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Message from the CEO
Click here to watch the video.
Bill Thomas - CEO, KPMG Canada
Bill Thomas began his career with KPMG in 1989, in our Vancouver office. After a three-year stint in Industry, Bill rejoined KPMG, where he was made partner in 1999. Before being named Deputy CEO in October, 2007, Bill held many key roles within the firm including leader of the Financial Institutions, Real Estate and Services (FIRE) Audit group in Vancouver, and Managing Partner for KPMG’s Greater Vancouver Area. On Janauary 1, 2009, Bill moved into the role of CEO of KPMG Canada.
1. What makes KPMG special?
This is a relationship business, and relationships are all about one-on-one interactions between human beings. What makes us special and what builds our culture and makes our organization what it is, is the collective ability of our entire organization to relate one-on-one with our clients and our future clients, but most importantly, with each other.
2. How important is diversity to KPMG?
When you have 5,200 people in an organization you can’t expect that they’re all the same, and in order to do what we need to do everyday in our marketplace, we can’t build a firm where we’re all the same. We’re not making widgets, and it’s not a situation where you want a production line, and people just come off of it. We need diversity in our thoughts to get to the best decisions, and we need diversity in our approach to the market to attract and retain as many clients and people to our organization as we possibly can.
3. How open is KPMG’s culture?
The less hierarchy in an organization the better, so whether you’ve been here for two days or twenty years, I think if you’re going to take the time to come and talk to me, or if you’ve got something on your mind and you think it needs to be advanced because we can make the place better, then people should feel completely comfortable coming and having those discussions and I welcome them, so I’ll make the time for them.
4. How would you describe KPMG’s environment?
It’s a high-performance environment, and I think people need to go into it with an understanding that it’s a high-performance environment. We have a lot of expectations of ourselves and our people, and at the same time, our people should have a high expectation of us.
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