Professional services firms are planning to recruit several thousand staff in greater
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China
in stark contrast to the wave of redundancies engulfing the wider financial services sector.
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KPMG, PwC and Deloitte Touche Tohmatsuplan to recruit at least 2,000 graduates each in
China
and
Hong Kong
next year, as well as hundreds of non-graduates, as they seek to cope with rising demand for their services.
The business has been driven in recent years by Chinese public offerings, which typically involved western audit firms conducting due diligence.
The collapse in such listings has led firms to reduce the size of their audit departments ? KPMG China recently axed or redeployed 200 staff. However, they report greater demand from mainland or foreign companies operating in
China
for services such as tax advice or dealing with rising regulation.
They are also positioning themselves for an expected early rebound in domestic growth, which next year analysts predict will fall to less than 8 per cent.
KPMG plans to hire 2,000 graduates next year,
350 in
Hong Kong and the remainder in mainland
China
, and will also recruit 200 non-graduates to senior positions. It also anticipates that about 1,500 newly qualified auditors will leave the firm.
This stands in contrast with the many redundancies afflicting the local operations of investment banks, hedge funds and private equity firms.
“Yes, there is an economic downturn but we can't afford to take a knee-jerk reaction and stop recruiting,” John Harrison, KPMG China chairman, told the Financial Times. “We have to continue to hire today to produce senior managers of tomorrow.”
Mr Harrison said there was rapidly rising demand in
China
for advice in areas such as litigation, forensic accounting and restructuring or insolvency. Firms also report rising demand for services in second-tier cities.
KPMG is the liquidator of Lehman Brothers' eight Hong Kong-based entities, a mandate that should soak up resources in the next few years.
PwC is expecting to recruit 2,000 graduates in China and Hong Kong, and more non-graduate staff, while Deloitte is expecting to boost its mainland headcount by a quarter next year, or 2,000 people, largely graduates.
They also plan to ride
Beijing
's mammoth domestic stimulus plan, with Deloitte preparing to lobby overseas firms poised to pitch for infrastructure projects.
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