Participants

· Tim Flynn, Chairman and CEO

· Katie McGlynn, Manager

· Steve Yarad, Partner

Transcript

Tim: Hello. I'm Tim Flynn. And I'm here today with two of your fellow professionals, Katie McGlynn and Steve Yarad. And we're here to talk about one of KPMG's key priorities -- our Global Strength & Consistency. It's key to how we serve our clients, and it's also key to how we create career opportunities for our people. At KPMG, as our clients serve the global economies, we must be prepared to put our best and brightest people alongside our clients in whatever markets they're in. Katie, tell us a bit about your experience.

Katie: Living abroad was something that I had always wanted to do. So after spending a couple of years at KPMG, I approached my performance manager and requested an international assignment. My partners in the U.S. coordinated with the U.K. partners, and were able to send me over to the London office to work on Credit Suisse over there.

Tim: Tell us what it was like as you met friends and created your own network.

Katie: I think one of the best things that I got out of the experience was the friends that I made both at work and outside of work. And also had some great travel experiences.

Tim: When you came back, Katie, did you get a feeling that you were better equipped to serve your clients here in the U.S. from that experience you had overseas?

Katie: Absolutely. I'm constantly having to deal with people in London, so I'm able to get those things done better, just calling up a friend in London and asking them to help me out.

Tim: Well, that's great. Steve, as a new partner, tell us a little bit about international assignments you've been on.

Steve: I started my career in Australia. And I worked there for seven years, and that gave me some great opportunities to work in Asia Pacific. I came to the U.S. firm in 1997 on a two-year rotation, initially to work on a global account. And again, that was a tremendous experience. Life changing, in fact, because I actually met my wife while I was here. I also did a three-year rotation to KPMG in Switzerland to work on another global account. I think the benefits of all that moving around within the firm has been to give me a real appreciation for the firm's global strength. It's also created a fantastic international network of colleagues and friends because I can make calls to people pretty much anywhere in the world, and know that my phone call's going to be returned.

Tim: It's always, I think, on people's minds, the support network they might receive. Can you share a little bit of those experiences with us?

Steve: I think the global mobility program does a fantastic job with making spouses and families comfortable in the process. In terms of being able to move their family, the firm's very supportive.

Tim: And, I would imagine there’s also a lot of personal growth.

Steve: Starting out in Australia, I had a fairly narrow focus on life, but over the years, with the opportunity to travel to various places, it really does broaden your horizons, and that has just shaped me as a person, in the way that I deal with people and clients today.

Tim: The stories that Steve and Katie share with us here today are just two examples of the thousands of people at KPMG that have had international experience. Now we all might not be able to relocate our families, or spend years overseas, but we're looking for other ways to strengthen our global connectivity. A couple of examples we're working on are global training. This year, this fall, over 300 new hires who have joined us around the world, will be trained globally in Europe for the first time. We're also looking at international internship opportunities, where interns from London will be coming to the U.S., and interns from the U.S. will be going to London. Our goal is to help strengthen your skills, broaden your horizons, and give you that global experience at KPMG, which is so important to our future, and your future as well. Thanks for joining us today. We're glad you could be here.