Driving Ethical Excellence: Insights from our data and analytic hackathon

It has been an incredible six weeks as I’ve observed KPMG employees focus on how data can help KPMG further enhance our ethical culture and ensure that we consistently lead with our Values. To achieve the greatest levels of success we must constantly invest in a culture that enables trust, accountability, and overall excellence.??

Talking about what matters helps to ensure that we bring focus to those important ideas. One of the reasons, KPMG and our Data Citizens with Purpose program recently sponsored our data and analytic experience, Pressure Points: Hacking Ethical Behavior, was to provide a forum to discuss the prevention of ethical misconduct and ways to remain alert to business pressures leading to instances of misconduct within the firm.??

During the six-week period, KPMG CEO, Paul Knopp, and Vice Chair and General Counsel, Tonya Robinson, addressed hackathon participants. I was impressed with our leaders’ sincerity and commitment to Excellence. Recognizing that, in all things, we constantly strive to do better.???

Listening to Paul and Tonya underscored my belief in the crucial role that a strong ethical culture plays in delivering long-term sustainable success. As business leaders, it is our responsibility to not only embrace our values, but to instill them into our organizations. When we succeed in doing so, we create an environment where our employees, clients, and communities can truly flourish.?

That said, I want to extend by heartfelt thanks to our winners and all participants of the Pressure Points: Hacking Ethical Behavior Hackathon. Their commitment to understanding and addressing ethical issues exemplifies KPMG's values and will help create meaningful growth. As stated by recent hackathon participant,??

“I really enjoyed the Pressure Points Hackathon and how I expanded my understanding of ethical culture!? It was definitely a time commitment, but working in this agile manner is something I'd like to do more of at KPMG.?I had never met my two teammates, and we're at opposite ends of our career journeys, but we came together and knocked out a good product in about five business days. We each brought different skill sets to the project that just clicked! I'm looking forward to applying a version of a Hackathon within some of the initiatives I lead. Thank you for a great experience!”?—Jennifer Burns

It is evident that the contribution from our participants towards fostering an ethical culture will resonate internally within the firm and externally to clients, reinforcing our commitment to “consistently doing the right thing, in the right way.”??

I look forward to seeing how KPMG will bring the ideas from this experience to life so we may continue mitigate business pressures and safeguard against ethical misconduct.??