KPMG partners get a 9% boost

ADVICE fees on post-Enron corporate regulation and new international financial reporting rules have gone 'stratospheric' at top accountant KPMG, helping partners to a 9% leap in earnings and pushing up chairman Mike Rake's pay to £2.45m.

'Risk advisory services - advising on IFRS [accounting rules], Sarbanes-Oxley [US legislation] and Higgsian corporate governance principles - is a business that has got real legs on it,' said chief executive John Griffith-Jones.

'After a 23% rise in fees last year, the business has gone stratospheric with turnover in the first quarter up over 50%.'

Soaring advice fees helped KPMG report profits of £247m for the year to the end of September, a year-on-year rise that was pegged to 6% by slower-growing audit and tax divisions and falling insolvency work.

Spread among its 547 partners, average earnings are £451,000. Rake's pay rose 8%, made up of £1.85m for leading the UK practice and £600,000 for heading the worldwide firm.

Regulatory advice work brought in fees of £149m for KPMG, about 15% of income and a figure which should easily top £200m in the current year.

KPMG said it also expects 'significant growth' from its audit practice this year.