KPMG confident of growth prospects in the Middle East and South Asia region

Dubai, UAE: KPMG in the Middle East and South Asia (MESA), part of the global network of professional services firms providing audit, tax, and advisory services, reported 12.7 per cent growth in aggregated revenues of member firms across the region for the fiscal year ended 30 September 2017.

Revenues across all core functions grew in double digits, with audit revenues increasing by 13 per cent, tax by 19.1 per cent and advisory by 10.6 per cent. Within advisory, deal advisory and risk consulting revenues increased by more than 20 per cent this year.

“There are a lot of opportunities in the Middle East and South Asia regions as many economies continue to undergo transformation amidst disruption. This two and half trillion dollar regional economy is too large for global corporations to ignore,” said William B. (Bill) Thomas, Chairman of KPMG International.

He added, “The robust growth achieved by our member firms for the fourth consecutive year has once again positioned MESA among the fastest-growing regions within the KPMG network. MESA is a high growth market and one which we will continue to invest in, both globally and through our local member firms.”

Abdullah Al Fozan, Chairman for KPMG Middle East and South Asia said, “2017 has been an exciting year as we continued to work on the region’s major transformation programs, assisting our clients prepare for the introduction of VAT, and in digitalization programs for many regional conglomerates. In addition, we established our first data & analytics Lighthouse center of excellence, increased the use of analytics across all our core functions and introduced Clara, our smart-audit platform in the region.”

On recent investments and alliances, he stated that KPMG has scaled up senior resourcing in areas of public-sector transformation and healthcare, among other priority sectors. A recent acquisition has led to the addition of 35 professionals with experience in both cloud and on-premise technology solutions. By the end of FY17, KPMG’s resource pool across the MESA region had expanded to nearly 7,500 professionals and associates, with member firms present in 15 countries across 32 office locations. Also, KPMG’s global alliance with Microsoft was extended to the Middle East earlier this year.

Vijay Malhotra, CEO and Chairman of KPMG in the Lower Gulf (UAE and Oman) said, “The robust numbers coming from the region shows its contribution to the promising growth story of KPMG’s core practices across audit, advisory and tax. Moreover, the recent introduction of excise tax and the upcoming VAT will translate to numerous opportunities for our firm. Equipped with new capabilities in data & analytics and additional talent, KPMG is poised to further contribute to the region’s transformation process.”

Meanwhile, KPMG International also released FY17 results which showed record growth of US$26.4 billion, up 5 per cent in local currency terms over the previous year. KPMG firms grew across all three regions: the Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe-Middle East-Africa (including India).

“The KPMG network grew strongly while continuing to transform to meet the rapidly changing demands of clients,” Bill Thomas said about the KPMG global results. “We are making significant, strategic investments across audit, tax and advisory in technology and innovative services, where clients are facing their greatest challenge and disruption. As an example, KPMG firms have built leading positions in cyber security, data & analytics and digital transformation services, bringing together leading-edge technology with our business expertise, to offer a higher level of capabilities than ever before to clients in these critical areas.”

© Press Release 2017