The careful calculations in KPMG’s comeback
CEO chosen for optics as much as ability, says brand reputation guru
When the local offices of accounting firm Arthur Andersen merged with KPMG after one of the world's worst corporate scandals - the collapse of US energy giant Enron - Nhlamu Dlomu was one of the South African employees absorbed into the new entity. The accounting firm effectively put an end to its audit activities in 2002, the year Dlomu joined as a consultant. Now, 15 years later, Dlomu again finds her firm embroiled in a corporate scandal. This time, as CEO of KPMG, she has the unenviable task of rescuing an audit firm on the brink of collapse should more of its leading clients, among them major local banks, choose to end their relationship. Already at least seven listed companies have ended their relationship with the auditor, moving to rivals such as Deloitte & Touche, after Trevor Hoole resigned as CEO last month, along with several other senior executives, amid national outrage over the company's links to state capture through money laundering and tax avoidance by the Gupta fa...
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