SINGAPORE: Accounting firm KPMG LLP (Singapore) will layoff about 300 accountants begin February.
KPMG said staff wages form the biggest component of costs outside of office rentals. However, it does not expect any retrenchments after the implementation of a series of measures to counter the impact of the recession.
It added that efforts to control business costs for non-essential operations have already been in place since the fourth quarter of 2008.
Channel NewsAsia understands that KPMG is the first of the “Big Four” accounting firms here to cut wages in the current economic downturn.
The other top accounting firms are Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Deloitte & Touche.
Responding to Channel NewsAsia, PwC said it would use its flexible wage system to help manage costs. Similarly, Ernst & Young said it prefers options like reducing the variable component of overall pay packages and bonus payouts.
Ernst & Young added that it expects to hire about 250 staff in Singapore in FY2009. In the past six months, the firm has recruited over 20 personnel in the region, including some from Singapore. The future of new accountants are dark for the next 3 to 5 years.
