KPMG’s 40 years auditing for one asset manager is plenty, thanks

KPMG audited Aberdeen Asset Management for 32 years before its client merged with Standard Life. Now, the Big Four accounting firm is in its eighth year on the vowel-phobic money manager the deal created, Abrdn.

A short interlude between the two gigs does little to change the impression that the asset manager is setting a bad example here on the serious issue of auditor independence.

The Edinburgh-based company’s latest annual report does set out the lengthy relationship more transparently than in previous years. KPMG was auditor to the Aberdeen of old from its client’s founding in 1983 through 2015. Standard Life, then a separate company, decided to hire KPMG in 2016 following a review. The Standard-Aberdeen merger came in 2017. The board duly considered whether KPMG’s independence was undermined by its previous work and concluded, no.