KPMG corporate citizenship report

Helping make a better world

Corporate Governance

Our strategic priority of quality growth requires impeccable corporate governance. Our clients, communities, partners, and employees demand nothing less. As a member firm of KPMG International, and in accordance with our own internal standards, we hold ourselves to the highest levels of ethics and accountability. KPMG's people commit to demonstrating much more than professional skill - employees and partners are expected to conduct themselves with the professionalism and integrity that mark our firm. We recognize that our independence and objectivity shape every client engagement. We also are committed to promoting and embracing constructive reform, and to helping clients follow good business practices while increasing value for their stakeholders.

Code of Conduct

KPMG's Code of Conduct defines how we operate based on our Core Values. The Code of Conduct defines the standards by which KPMG does business, reaffirming our commitment to ethical behavior and integrity. It is intended as a roadmap for our values-based compliance culture, which guides the actions and behaviors of our partners and employees in their work at KPMG. It also describes the resources available to help fulfill our individual responsibility to mitigate risks to the firm, and to achieve compliance with the firm's standards. The Code of Conduct applies to all KPMG partners and employees, regardless of title or tenure, and brings to life our promise of professionalism to each other, to our clients, and to the capital markets we serve.

The importance of ethics and integrity is inseparable from KPMG's vision of being a great place to build careers in a rewarding environment. For KPMG's people, it means a strong sense of inclusion, mutual respect, open and honest communication, fairness, teamwork, and pride in being associated with each other and being part of KPMG. As part of our focus on integrity, KPMG has instituted an Ethics and Compliance Hotline for employees, partners, and others working with the firm to anonymously report possible illegal, unethical, or improper conduct.

To learn more about the Code of Conduct, go to http://www.us.kpmg.com/about/conduct.asp.

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Instilling and Reinforcing the Culture

Before recruits join our firm, and through numerous "touch-points" during their careers, we make sure KPMG's partners and employees understand the importance of ethics and integrity to our culture, and the uncompromising way they are expected to conduct themselves. In our talks and presentations on college campuses, interviews with recruits, and printed materials, we emphasize our commitment to ethics and integrity and discuss our compliance programs. After formally agreeing to join our firm, new hires are taught to understand our promise of professionalism and the behaviors we expect. With each offer letter, new partners and employees receive the Code of Conduct and are asked to review it and confirm that they will comply. And, as part of New Hire Orientation, they receive training on the Code of Conduct and the ethics and compliance resources available.

During their first month at the firm, KPMG people are required to complete several Web-based training programs around ethics and integrity. They include:

  • Ethics and Compliance Training: An Introduction
  • Ethics and Compliance Training: Protecting Information
  • Security First Training
  • Respect & Dignity Training
  • Diversity in the Workplace

As employees and partners progress through their careers at KPMG, their sense of ethics in the firm's culture is reinforced. During our live and Web-based training programs, we integrate ethics and compliance learning points. Functional training such as Audit Fundamentals, Tax Skills Seminar, and Advisory University, as well as "soft skills" courses, such as Exploring KPMG's Business and Skillful Performance Conversations, include ethics and compliance components.

We survey our employees regularly to stay abreast of how they feel about ethics and compliance at KPMG. We have our Ethics and Integrity Survey solely focused on this topic; and our annual Work Environment Survey contains a number of questions about how well our leadership demonstrates our values and provides an environment that encourages KPMG people to do the right thing in the right way.

Transparency Report

Our commitment to open and honest communication is reflected in The KPMG Transparency Report, which sets out KPMG International's global governance and structure, audit quality statement, and financial report. KPMG member firms are committed to providing consistently high quality services in an ethical and independent way. In the U.S., the services we provide play a central role in the capital markets, and this requires on our part the highest levels of quality, integrity, and transparency. KPMG not only should talk about high standards, but also demonstrate them in everything we do. As a demonstration of our commitment to openness and honesty, The KPMG Transparency Report is a key component of our corporate governance structure.

We invite you to access this important document at http://www.kpmg.com/NR/rdonlyres/A75F1CFF-AAB7-4D69-A489-690396C9094A/0/KPMGIntlTransparencyReport.pdf

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