KPMG Fakhro, a unit of global financial services firm KPMG International, has posted a 22.5 per cent growth in revenues from its Bahrain operations during the fiscal year ended September 30.

The company increased its staff by 22 per cent over last year, with more than 350 persons employed at present, said a report in our sister publication, the Gulf Daily News.

Globally, the firm increased its workforce by 5 per cent to more than 152,000 partners and staff, with plans for heavy recruitment of graduates in the coming year.

Developing economies, such as the high growth GCC countries where KPMG has presence, formed an important part of the contribution to the firm's revenues.

"One of KPMG's core global strategies is to help build our market presence in developing economies, including the high growth GCC economies," said KPMG's managing partner Jamal Fakhro.

"The GCC continues to be a beacon of growth and prosperity and KPMG in Bahrain is well-placed to take advantage of this growth and to leverage the thought, leadership and resources of the broader firm," he added.

The firm recorded combined revenues of $23.03 billion for the fiscal year ended September 30, representing a 4.4 per cent increase over the previous year in local currency terms.

When adjusted to the US dollar, the revenues increased by 1.4 per cent, reflecting the relative strength of the dollar.

"Despite tough competition and challenging market conditions, the firm achieved solid revenue growth in Bahrain," added Fakhro. "We also continued to enhance our service offering by recruiting subject matter experts and developing our internal capabilities."

The year witnessed two distinct phases of growth, with the first six months seeing strong growth of 6.4 per cent and relatively weaker growth of 2.1 per cent in the six months to September, said KPMG International chairman Michael J Andrew.

The firm recorded increased revenues across all functions with particularly strong growth generated in financial services, industrial markets and infrastructure, government and healthcare.

Advisory revenues grew by 8.3 per cent to $7.86 billion, while tax revenues grew by 6.3 per cent to $4.86 billion and audit revenues grew by 0.9 per cent to $10.31 billion.

"The growth in advisory and tax underlines the strength of client demand for professional services," said Mr Andrew.

"On the audit side, the market has never been more competitive and we are focused on continuing to improve audit quality, as evidenced by our significant investments in our global audit platform that surpassed $50 million.

"This is in addition to the $100 million invested over the past several years," he added. – TradeArabia News Service