At KPMG, we believe in the power of people to do great things. Education is one of the key pillars of our Corporate Citizenship strategy and we believe it is paramount to developing a society for future success.
Our Corporate Citizenship programme creates opportunities for all our people to make a difference. The focus in KPMG is on skills-based volunteering, using the talent and training of our staff to help make a positive difference especially in education. Find out below how we are making a difference.
Literacy in education
We understand that books can open up new worlds, and instil in children a lifelong love for learning, but often books are not accessible to all children. We are proud to sponsor the KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Awards and as part of our partnership we run a number of exciting initiatives to help promote childhood literacy.
KPMG staff go out to schools across the island of Ireland to help encourage the Junior Juries to vote on which books in the KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Awards that they think are the best. Staff read with the students, encourage their creativity by designing book covers, and get them excited about the wonderful world of reading.
BOLD GIRLS
We partnered with Children’s Books Ireland in 2019 to support their BOLD GIRLS programme with this initiative running annually over the last number of years. BOLD GIRLS workshops aim to break down societal barriers and instil confidence in girls by showing them female characters in children’s books with passion, power and opinions. KPMG volunteers host creative, innovative workshops in primary schools based on bold, inspiring women who changed history, in turn encouraging young girls to believe that can achieve their ambitions.
Time to Read
Time to Read is a programme we run with Business in the Community Ireland and local primary schools. KPMG volunteers provide one-to-one reading support to pupils from second class. Over a 16-week period, each child receives reading support once per week for 30 minutes. The benefits of the programme include an increased enjoyment of reading, improved fluency and comprehension as well as greater confidence and self-discovery in reading.
Time to Count
KPMG run a Time to Count programme with Business in the Community Ireland and St. Vincent’s Girl’s National School. The aim of the programme is to promote the learning of maths through fun, educational games. Our volunteers meet third class primary pupils once a week for six weeks. The programme promotes the enjoyment of mathematics and children begin to see maths skills not as a chore but as a fun activity supported by a volunteer.
Mentor programme with CBS Westland Row
Each year KPMG people volunteer to mentor students at CBS Westland Row, during their 5th and 6th year of study. The purpose of the programme is to encourage students to remain in school and complete their Leaving Certificate. The mentor works with the mentee to set life goals, look at how they might achieve these goals and identify some milestones to measure their success. Mentors meet with their student once per academic month over the course of two years, as well as enjoying time together at the summer and winter socials.
Accounting grinds with Larkin College
In 2017, Larkin College brought in Accountancy as a Leaving Certificate subject and approached KPMG to support their fifth-year students with the subject. The aim of the programme is to give Leaving Certificate Accounting students the opportunity to work through difficult questions with the help of an experienced accountant. KPMG volunteers work with groups of two to three students in one-hour sessions over a six-week period, helping build their confidence and practical skills ahead of their final exams.
Doodle Den
Doodle Den is an after-school literacy programme targeted at children aged five to six years of age in Senior Infants. The programme focuses on improving children’s literacy through a wide range of activities such as games, phonics, art, drama, independent and shared reading and physical activity. KPMG’s staff volunteer for six-weeks in schools across Dublin city to encourage their interest in reading.
Junior Achievement Ireland
Junior Achievement Ireland encourages young people to remain in education and helps them to build the business skills they need to succeed in a changing world. Every year, our volunteers are placed in schools across the country helping build students’ financial literacy and employability skills.
Scholarships
At KPMG, we want to help disadvantaged students fulfil their potential. We fund and support different programmes and scholarships in a bid to achieve this. The Denis O’Connor KPMG Doctoral Scholarship in Accounting is a partnership with the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School and celebrates the leadership of the late Denis O'Connor - former Managing Partner of KPMG in Ireland.
We are active supporters of the Trinity and DCU Access Programmes which supports people from areas with low progression rates to higher education to reach their full educational potential. We also help fund a scholarship for students from disadvantaged backgrounds to attend Belvedere College and Gonzaga College.