It takes some courage in this age of financial crisis, regulation and sophisticated technology to operate an audit, tax and advisory services firm. Yet that is exactly what global giant KPMG International successfully accomplishes in 156 countries by relying on more than 152,000 professionals, while maintaining a sterling reputation and a brand of excellence. This level of achievement is only possible if a company operates using the highest ethical standards and is able to hire and retain top talent.

-By Paul Lachhu

According to John Veihmeyer, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of KPMG LLP, the U.S. member firm of KPMG International, ethics and integrity are cornerstones of the firm’s corporate culture. Maintaining a brand of excellence relies on the integrity, knowledge and professionalism that each person exhibits while interacting with clients and colleagues, and KPMG LLP has 90 offices across the U.S. and more than 22,000 employees and partners.

An important part of the talent equation is diversity and inclusion, which is a strategic priority for KPMG, says Veihmeyer, because diversity, is not only having the best individuals, but the best teams comprised of people who can provide different strengths, perspectives, and approaches that complement each other. The firm has a variety of diversity initiatives in progress. One of the characteristics that sets KPMG apart from many other companies is its focus on building a sustainable, diverse talent pipeline through long-term strategic investments in programs from early childhood and throughout the education continuum, including helping to increase the number of diverse professors in academia.

KPMG also invests in environmental sustainability internally and through its client services. KPMG’s Climate Change and Sustainability Services practice assists enterprises in understanding the complex and evolving policy, regulatory, and business environment risks and opportunities related to climate change and sustainability. Internally, KPMG’s Living Green Initiative has set ambitious goals of being a recognized leader in environmental stewardship by reducing its carbon footprint and water and paper consumption, increasing technology recycling, and more.

From a corporate citizenship perspective, KPMG’s people also participate in a variety of programs designed to improve the communities in which they live and work.

Maintaining an ethical organization requires talented leadership that is passionate and committed to the firm’s values and philosophy. John Veihmeyer certainly fits that description. In addition to serving as Chairman and CEO of KPMG LLP, he is also the Chairman of the Americas Region (U.S., Canada, Central America, South America and Israel) for KPMG International (KPMGI) and a member of the KPMGI’s Global Board and Global Executive Team. He is an influential and sought-after voice on ethics and integrity in leadership, and the importance of diversity.

In an interview with Diversity Canada Editor In Chief Paul Lachhu, John was asked to describe his leadership philosophy and style and to give insight into how he plans to ensure the firm’s continued success in these areas.

As one of the best-known global brands, what is KPMG’s role in the world?

Recognizing the unique role we play in servicing the capital markets, our responsibility to the world rests in three dimensions: our clients, our people and our communities. When we provide audit, tax and advisory services to our clients, we’re helping them to improve business performance and strengthen their financial reporting, which benefits the economy and helps the capital markets to better understand and trust the information they’re receiving. When we hire, train and develop our people, we’re giving them opportunities to learn new skills and apply them in ways that help them build meaningful careers. And when we unleash the energy, ideas and passion of KPMG’s employees, we’re helping to build and enhance our communities. We know that we are making a significant and sustainable positive impact now and on the future. The concept of stewardship is at the heart of this.

KPMG has a reputation for diversity and inclusion. What decisions from the top are driving these initiatives?

We are an organization that attracts top diverse talent because our people believe KPMG is a great place to work and build a career. We work hard to create a workplace where every person feels that way regardless of his or her gender, race, ethnicity, sexual preference, or physical abilities. The drive to create this culture of diversity and inclusiveness begins at the top. I am passionate about diversity and inclusion. It’s a strategic priority for our firm and we work hard to build the commitment to diversity throughout our organization’s strategy, structure and governance.

In addition to the commitment to diversity, there is a system of measurement and accountability. We have established clear, achievable metrics for managers to help us get to where we want to be as an organization. It is difficult for people to believe and rally around the kind of organization we want to build, unless it is physically possible to measure progress. For example, there are goals established for diversity, turnover of diverse population members and engagement team diversity.

How is the global economic environment shaping corporate decisions?

The ups and downs of the global economic environment do not weaken our commitment to diversity. There is an inclination to contrast building a diverse organization with building a profitable one, but they are not mutually exclusive goals. Many of the things we need to do to achieve commercial success are identical to the things we need to do in terms of creating a diverse organization. Both sets of decisions are about talent. We cannot be a successful firm if we cannot attract and retain the right talent needed in a professional services firm. We will not be able to attract diverse talent if people do not believe they can have a successful career. With the right talent, we can achieve commercial success.

How do you get your workforce to make ethical decisions?

Ethics and integrity are of course important in any business – but they are a cornerstone of our work at KPMG. Our clients rely on our work to shape critical business decisions, and with the enormous trust that our clients and the capital markets place in us, our conduct must hold itself to the highest standards of integrity and transparency.

The best way to ensure ethics and integrity is to create a culture in which every individual feels, not just a personal responsibility, but also a sense of empowerment for building the ethical environment of the organization. That’s what we’ve done at KPMG. We also have the right tools and appropriate governance structure. There also is accountability and communication when issues arise.

Ethics are so important that one of the eight executives reporting directly to me is responsible for overseeing our ethics and compliance program.

What does sustainability mean to a company like KPMG?

At KPMG we talk about the four pillars of sustainability which comprise our corporate responsibility vision: market, environmental, talent and community. Market sustainability is concerned with integrity and our responsibility to clients and the capital markets system. Environmental sustainability is embodied in our Living Green Initiatives that are focused on areas, such as reducing our carbon footprint and recycling and waste management. Talent sustainability addresses the diversity issues just discussed. Community sustainability is related to corporate citizenship and social responsibility.

Where does corporate social responsibility (CSR) end and social strategy begin?

Our corporate citizenship encompasses social responsibility, and our intentional focus on education represents a social strategy for ensuring we have a pipeline of diverse talent for years to come. For example, our PhD Project was founded on the premise that if we want a more diverse talent pool for our profession then we need more diverse professors in the classroom. This program has increased diversity in the teaching ranks nearly four-fold at business programs nationwide.

We work closely with Junior Achievement’s Finance Park program to increase financial literacy amongst middle school students and the National Academy Foundation’s Finance Academies to encourage high school student interest in the accounting profession. In addition, we realized that promoting education needs to start at a very early age. Our primary educational program is the KPMG Family for Literacy program. It is a comprehensive program that puts books into the hands of children who would not get them otherwise. So far, we have distributed more than two million books.

How do you build a workforce for the future and foster a culture for diversity and growth?

Building a workforce for the future means attracting the best and most diverse talent to our firm. The markets we serve are dynamic and diverse, and, to thrive in the 21st century, we need to reflect that. It’s also about reflecting the values of our people and creating the firm we want to be. We want to build an organization where everyone feels welcomed and included – but we want to go beyond that, and make our firm a place that people are proud to be a part of. Building a culture of diversity helps us accomplish that.

We also proactively cultivate the skills we need. We work closely with our talent supply chain – the universities – to develop and find the right people for our organization. University curricula and the focus of academic programs have a direct bearing on our ability to meet future workforce needs.

Once talent is attracted and hired, they have access to our world-class training programs that encourage a mindset of lifelong learning and skill building. In addition, we have various programs – including mentorship and sponsorship – to foster professional growth and development.