From Boardroom to Campus: Our Exclusive Interview with KPMG’s US Chair and CEO

The Merdian Interview KPMG CEO, Paul Knopp (Photo Credit: NY Jobs CEO Council)

By Thomas Bonner

On Tuesday, February 6th, the US Chair and CEO of KPMG, Paul Knopp came to Lehman College for an exclusive conversation with President Fernando Delgado. The event was organized by the nonprofit organization, New York Jobs CEO Council, whose goal is to provide equal opportunities and break down barriers for New Yorkers from all backgrounds. As a council member, Paul Knopp, along with other business leaders has committed to diversifying his workforce by recruiting from underrepresented talent pools. During his visit, The Meridian had the privilege of conducting an interview where he gave his unique perspective on important topics that are sure to benefit and interest the Lehman community. Although he lives a busy life, he showed up with a willingness to listen and approached each question with an open mind. Based on the information and guidance we received, Lehman students can be reassured that there is great potential within all of us.

Paul Knopp emphasizes the importance of diversity and inclusion at KPMG

The Meridian: “How do your values personally, and at KPMG, help make people from all backgrounds feel more included in your company?”

Paul Knopp: “It's a great question, our values at KPMG are integrity, excellence, courage, together, and for better. When I think about inclusivity and equity, it is important to help everyone at work feel comfortable. In today's world, you need more equity and inclusion to make sure that talent can rise to the top of the organization. We spend a lot of our time talking to our people about the importance of those values. What's important to us is the recognition that a lot, if not all, of what we accomplish as an organization is accomplished in a team environment.  Therefore, [we have] to ensure that people know what it means to live the value of together and for the better. That is critically important to the success of the organization.”

Paul Knopp recently joined the Board of Healthy Minds, a nonprofit that's focused on the destigmatization of mental health and emotional well-being mostly among Gen Z and Millennials.

M: “Why is destigmatizing mental health in the workplace so important to you?”

PK: “So, destigmatizing mental health is special to me personally, but it's also very special to KPMG. We all struggle with our own emotional and mental health, every one of us. We all know somebody who struggles even more than we do with their emotional and mental health, so it can be very personal. We recognize that we work in a very stressful world where business burnout can certainly happen.”

M: “Especially around tax season.”

PK: “Yes, tax season or deadlines in audit or big complex consulting projects. What we've learned, particularly during the pandemic, is that a special focus on emotional and mental health is critically important to [our] success down the road. For instance, employee assistance programs for caregivers and parental leave for healthcare. How much are you working? How many meetings are you in? How much personal time off have you taken? At KPMG, it's critically important to check in on each other, and make sure that we all feel like we are in an environment where we value emotional as well as physical health.”

KPMG recently invested around $2 billion in Microsoft's Open AI.

M: “What should current students and graduating students know about the future of AI and its potential impact on the job market?”

PK: “Let me just kind of signal the importance of generative AI. We developed that $2 billion enhanced alliance with Microsoft not only on generative AI but [to] also enhance cloud platforms for the future. [We also named] a digital innovation and AI leader for KPMG that's on our management committee. It's a brand new role, and to give it real importance and show how critical it's going to be.”

“We also developed an AI framework because we need to make sure that AI is used safely and ethically in a trustworthy manner for our clients. We did all that because generative AI is going to be truly transformative when it comes to the business world, as well as any aspect of any sector or industry that's out there. It's going to be a huge disruptor, so we're training all of our people on generative AI, so they can appreciate its importance and use it to upskill and rescale to meet the needs of the future.”

“A future that’s driven by a more technological approach to solving problems with recognition that we don't think it's a job taker. It's a job maker. we don't think that it's going to reduce employment over time; we think it's going to enhance employment over time. It's going to cause our people to do less mundane and routine things in less time and have more work-life balance as a result.”

A new “Information Systems and Controls” discipline has been added to the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) exam this year.

M: Do you think the worldwide adoption of technology is why they're introducing this new discipline to the CPA exam?

PK: “I graduated from a university 41 years ago and in those days, information systems were in themselves, were nascent. And now, in finance, accounting, and the business world, everything is driven by the technology you have. So the formulation to include that area of expertise in the CPA exam is the recognition that you must have an understanding of technology, the risk of technology, and the controls around technology to be successful. Ensuring that you can deliver whatever service is going to be in your purview in terms of your career.”

“For instance, if you're going to deliver audits, you can't successfully deliver audits without understanding the risks and the strategies of the organization. You have to understand their technology, whether they're using SAP or Oracle for the ERP system or something like Workday for their HR capabilities or Salesforce for their front office capabilities. You've got to understand all aspects of what's happening. Regardless of what the information system is, you've got to be prepared to be able to understand the risk of the system, the controls around the system, and what the system can deliver to the organization. Whether you're going to be an auditor, a tax professional or you're going to work in the industry, it's a recognition that both technology and data are going to become much more important to our success in the future.”

M: “What would your advice be to graduating students and current students?

PK: “Whether you major in a technology-related field –  it doesn't matter what you're majoring in – you should try to understand what technologies are emerging. Not only technology that’s present today but you should try to understand where technology is going. The one thing you can rest assured is that technology, whether you're a nurse, accountant, investment banker, or engineer, is going to touch what you do in a really meaningful way.”

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