The Big Four firm has introduced yoga and mindfulness sessions for its staff as part of a three-day training excursion.
The KPMG Audit University, as it is named, has been set up by UK head of audit Michelle Hinchcliffe and aims to help the firm’s 4,000 auditors deal with the stresses of their roles.
“Auditors are under significant pressure to perform and I think stress levels are increasing,” said Hinchcliffe.
The face-to-face training, to be undertaken in off-site residential training centres until September, will concentrate on audit quality and will involve sessions on resilience and challenging management alongside wellbeing.
Hinchcliffe said that it is important that all audit staff at the firm are “equipped to deal with the current public scrutiny over the quality of audits, both technically and mentally.
The courses will not just be for new staff however, but will be for everyone, including partners.
“The leadership have to help staff to deal with the criticism over the quality of audits, both technically and mentally,” Hinchliffe explained.
In January, reports found that almost a third (30.4%) of accountants suffer from mental health issues, with 43.5% of respondents saying they believed their job was a key contributor to their poor mental health.
From: Economia
