KPMG Interview process

About KPMG

KPMG is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations. KPMG is leading providers of risk, financial services, business advisory, corporate governance and internal audit.

Some highlights of KPMG

• S. staff, including partners: 35,000+
• Worldwide staff, including partners: 219,000+
• S. offices: 100+ in all 50 states
• Worldwide offices: 650+ in 147 countries
• Annual revenue in the U.S.: Nearly $10 billion for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2019
• Worldwide annual revenue: $29.8 billion for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2019
• Market share: KPMG serves more than 82% of the FORTUNE Global 500 and more than 80% of the Forbes Global 1000

Key Industry in which KPMG operates

• Aerospace and Defense
• Alternative Investments
• Asset Management
• Automotive and Transportation
• Banking and Capital Markets
• Building, Construction & Real Estate
• Consumer & Retail
• Energy, Natural Resources and Chemicals
• Financial Services
• Government & Public Sector
• Healthcare and Life Sciences
• Industrial Manufacturing
• Insurance
• Media & Entertainment
• Private Equity
• Private Enterprise
• Public Investment Management
• Technology
• Telecommunications

Career hierarchy in KPMG

KPMG hires its entry level profiles either via internships or Assistant profile. You can see the detailed career hierarchy structure of KPMG below. Each level is achieved in 2-5 year time gap.

Hiring process of KPMG

KPMG hire for both fresh graduates as well experienced professionals for  various roles.

KPMG hiring process for freshers

KPMG hires fresh graduates via

1. Campus placement
2. Direct application on KPMG website

KPMG visit Tier 1 colleges like IITs, NITs, and other reputed colleges (in engineering, commerce, MBA) for hiring for fresher roles.

Fresh graduates can also apply to KPMG roles via its career portal (https://home.kpmg/in/en/home/careers.html) . This portal will help them to search for various roles and locations availability in KPMG.

Eligibility criteria for fresh graduates hiring at KPMG

• The candidate should have attained 60% or more in his/her graduation
• The candidate should have attained 60% or more in both class 10th and 12th
• Most preferable branched in engineering: CSE, IT, ECE, EE, Mechanical
• Most preferable program in non- engineering: B.Com, M.Com, MBA, CA
• No active backlog

KPMG hiring process for experienced professionals

KPMG hires experienced professionals via

1. Employee referral
2. Direct application on KPMG website
3. Internal hiring

Experienced professionals can check career page of KPMG website, and search for roles based on experience, location and business units. The can register their profile and apply to these roles.

KPMG also hires via employee referral program and internal hiring. You can pass on your resume to your reference inside KPMG, for faster screening process.

KPMG Interview process

KPMG interview process varies for fresher and experienced hiring. While in fresher hiring, focus is on whether the candidate is fit for the skills required in various roles.

KPMG interview process for fresher

Key skill sets tested during fresher hiring at KPMG are:

• Candidate’ aptitude
• Candidate’ communication skills
• Candidate’ basic understanding of technical concepts.

KPMG selection Process consists of the following stages-

• KPMG Written Test
• Group Discussion
• Interview – Technical and HR

Interviews are taken by Supervisor/Associate, Manager and Senior Manager for freshers. There is one HR round at the end, taken by HR manager.

KPMG interview process for experienced professionals

KPMG interview process is different for experienced professionals. For them, the process is as follow.

• Telephone round (Junior HR)
• Telephone round (Immediate senior like Manager or Senior Manager)
• Assignments – Case study, Excel, Presentation, Email writing, Proposal writing etc. This needs to be solved and submitted to KPMG. Candidate may be asked to present this assignment during interview too.
• Technical Interview round- There is minimum 3 rounds with upper hierarchies of organization structure. During first 2 rounds, focus of the interview will be your understanding of the roles and industry. In the 3^rd round which is taken by Director or Partner, focus is to check your fit with the company.
• HR interview round- Once you have successfully completed previous round, this round is mainly for negotiation of salary, joining interval etc.

KPMG Aptitude test

KPMG aptitude test is screening test for fresh graduates who are applying in entry level positions. This test is aimed to test candidates’ aptitude and problem solving skills. This test is typically of 40 minutes.

Subject	Questions	Time (minutes)
Numerical Ability	24	20
Verbal Ability	40	20
Total	64	40

 

Syllabus of KPMG aptitude test

• Data Interpretation
• Graphs
• Probability
• Time and Work
• Time, Speed Distance
• Percentages
• Profit and Loss Spotting Errors
• Reading Comprehension Passage
• Idioms
• Synonyms and Antonyms
• Fill in the blanks
• Paragraph completion
• Sentence Completion
• Vocabulary

Preparation tips for KPMG Aptitude exam

• The important things in KPMG aptitude tests are speed and accuracy. For this you need to do lot of practice.
• Make sure you are managing your time well, and are not devoting time in single section only
• Typically cut off for KPMG exam is 60% of the overall marks.
• The overall difficulty level of KPMG Placement Paper is kept moderate.
• There is no negative marking in the KPMG Placement paper

KPMG Group discussion round

Group discussion is important round in KPMG interview process for fresher. In this, you will be given a topic, and you are asked to discuss it in your group (8-12 candidates). Typically, 2-3 best speakers are selected for further rounds from group discussion round.

Group discussion (GD) topics in KPMG

• 5 trillion dollars economy
• Double farm income
• Economic reforms in India
• Job vs Entrepreneurship
• Farms reforms in India
• Artificial intelligence use

Most of these topics are related to current events (national, technology, business etc). Candidates are advised to read newspaper regularly (especially editorial section, Science and Tech, Business Page).

KPMG Case study

In case study round, KPMG share a business case (usually a story about a company or government who are struggling with existing process). Candidates are asked to work the possible solution which will help company/government in solving their issue in better way.

KPMG Excel assignment

In Excel assignment round, candidate is given excel sheet, and asked to work on the excel using functions like vlookup, hlookup, graph plots, arithmetic functions, macros etc.

KPMG Email writing assignment

Experienced candidates are sometime given email assignment, where they need to draft an email handling a peculiar case. This round is mainly to test how you can convey  your thought to opposite party in best way.

Example of Email writing topics at KPMG

• Write an email to the client regarding delay in delivery of the project.
• Write an email to your Manager about being stuck between different projects which is constraining your efficiency
• Write to another colleague, congratulating them on the appreciation they received in the last townhall (all company meeting)

 

Technical interviews at KPMG

Technical interviews at KPMG are solely based on type of profiles. As we know, KPMG deals with multiple business units like Advisory, Tax, Audit, Assurance, Consulting etc. you will be asked question based on these profile in your job interview.

Sample questions for Tax audit profile at KPMG

• What do you mean by assessment year?
• What do you understand by total income?
• How many heads are there under total income?
• How will you decide the residential status of an individual? Who are resident but not ordinary resident?
• What is tax refund?
• What is capital gain?
• Explain long term capital gains and how is it different from short term capital gains?
• What is alternative minimum tax (AMT)?
• What do you mean by amortization and how is it different from impairment?
• What is intercompany reconciliation?
• What is the securities transaction tax?
• What are the objectives of internal audit?
• Explain about cross functional audits?
• What do you mean by management audit?

Sample HR round questions at KPMG

• Introduce yourself.
• What is the difference between smart work and hard work?
• List some of you achievements?
• What according to you was your greatest failure in life?
• Where do you see yourself after 2 years?
• Explain your personality in one word.
• Tell me something about your family?
• Why should we hire you?
• Why KPMG?
• Tell me about a time when you worked effectively under pressure.
• If you could be any animal, what would it be?
• What opinion do your friends have about you?
• When do you think you will complete and be able to join?(contextual question)
• Do you have any questions for us?
• What changes would you make at your college?
• If you were to ask one of your professors to describe you, what would he or she say?
• What do you think are your strengths and weaknesses?
• What interests you most about this position?
• How has your education prepared you for your career?
• Describe your Final Year Project. What innovations did you bring into this project?
• Do you prefer working in a team?
• What motivates you?
• Are you a good listener?
• Have you ever wanted to quit something?

Preparation tips for KPMG Interviews

• Make sure you have understanding of what position you are applying, and what does it requires in this position.
• Brush up your college text books especially first and second years, if you are fresher
• Make sure you have given good time on your resume. More than half of your interview time will be based on questions asked from your profile, past projects or work. If in case any clarity is missing in any particular point, it is better to remove that from CV.
• Make sure you are doing basic research on profile and what company was doing recently on that. Browse over internet to see whether you can find good data which you can use during your interview.
• The interviewer will observe the confidence level of the candidate. It is important that the candidate speaks confidently
• Always politely say,Sir/Mam, I dont know the answer to the question if you dont know the answer to a question. Never answer incorrectly or stammer in front of the interviewer.
• Answer the questions in such a way that your answers revolve around the job profile of the company for which you are applying.

Conclusion

In this article, we have shared complete hiring process and interview information for KPMG. This data is collected from interviews, online survey, KPMG website etc. If you want to contribute your own interview experience, please do let us know. You can mail us at info@xamnation.com.

Xamnation is offering interview preparation help for KPMG. Get online practice tests based on KPMG pattern, practice from assignment, get learning material on aptitude tests, and get personal mentorship and mock interviews from seniors from Big 4 consulting firms. If you are interested in availing our online services for KPMG interview preparation, please get in touch with rakesh@xamnation.com