KPMG Assessment 2026: SHL Tests, the Values-Based SJT and the Assessment Centre

The KPMG assessment is the selection process KPMG uses to hire graduates and experienced professionals: an online application, SHL numerical and verbal reasoning tests, a situational judgement test built around KPMG's five values, a recorded video interview, and a half-day assessment centre with a group exercise, a written exercise and a partner interview. The feature that distinguishes KPMG from the other Big Four firms is the values-based SJT at the online stage. It is not a general judgement test. It scores your instincts against a published set of values, which means it is the one stage you can prepare for by reading.

What Is the KPMG Assessment?

KPMG is one of the Big Four professional services firms, with 265,000+ employees across audit, tax and advisory. Its process is structured and competency-based: the same competencies and values are assessed repeatedly, from the SJT through to the partner interview, using different evidence each time. That repetition is useful to you. Unlike a process where each stage tests something unrelated, KPMG's stages reward one coherent piece of preparation: knowing what the firm says it values and having real examples of having done it.

On the test side, KPMG uses SHL, the most widely used publisher in graduate recruitment. That is good news if you have already practised: the SHL Verify format is the reference point most generic practice material is built on. It also means the format is the closest thing to a neutral middle ground among the Big Four, harder than nothing, easier than PwC's adaptive, calculator-free Talent Q battery.

The KPMG Hiring Process, Stage by Stage

1. 1Online application (about 30 minutes). An application form with motivational questions and a CV upload. Write for the service line (audit, tax or advisory) not for the brand.
2. 2SHL online tests (about 44 minutes). Numerical and verbal reasoning in the SHL Verify format. The first hard sift, and the cheapest stage to improve.
3. 3Situational judgement test (20-25 minutes). A KPMG-specific SJT measuring alignment with the firm's values and professional judgement. Scenario-based, most/least effective response.
4. 4Video interview (20-30 minutes). A pre-recorded competency interview, answered against a timer with no interviewer present.
5. 5Assessment centre (half day). Group exercise, written exercise and a partner interview.

Which Tests and Publishers You Will Meet

• Publisher background: SHL: the formats, the timings and what SHL Verify actually rewards.
• Practise the three constructs KPMG tests: numerical reasoning, verbal reasoning and situational judgement.
• Firm-specific detail (process, roles and reported tests) sits on the KPMG company page.

The SHL Numerical and Verbal Tests

The numerical test gives you 18 questions in 25 minutes with a calculator, roughly 80 seconds per item, which is comfortable if you can locate the right figure quickly and uncomfortable if you read the whole table first. The verbal test is tighter: 30 statements in 19 minutes, about 38 seconds each. Because several statements attach to the same passage, the first statement against a new passage costs the most time and every subsequent one should be faster. Read the statement first, then hunt the passage for the sentence it depends on.

• Numerical: check units and footnotes before you compute. 'Figures in thousands' quietly changes every answer on the page.
• Numerical: use the calculator to confirm, not to think. Estimate the answer, then verify it. Candidates who type first and think second run out of time.
• Verbal: answer only from the passage. If a statement is true in the world but the passage does not support it, the answer is Cannot Say. Industry knowledge is a liability in this format.
• Verbal: circle the qualifier. All, some, most, may, will, only. In a large share of items the qualifier is the entire question. Our verbal reasoning guide sets out the full decision table.

The KPMG Situational Judgement Test

KPMG's SJT presents workplace scenarios (an audit discrepancy, a client deadline in conflict with quality, a colleague cutting a corner) and asks you to identify the most and least effective responses. The scoring key is not 'what would a sensible person do'. It is 'what does a KPMG professional do', and KPMG has published what that means: integrity, excellence, courage, together, for better. Research those five values before you sit the test, because they are literally the rubric.

• Integrity means flagging problems, including inconvenient ones, and including ones that make you look inexperienced for raising them.
• Courage means speaking up as a junior person, not deferring to seniority when something looks wrong.
• Together means going through the right people rather than acting alone or going around your team.
• Excellence and for better mean not trading quality for speed, and thinking about the consequences beyond your own task.

Worked Example: a KPMG-Style SJT Item

The Video Interview

KPMG's video interview is pre-recorded: you get the question, a short preparation window, and a timer. Structure is everything, because no interviewer will pull you back on track. Answer in STAR form and land the result in one sentence. Then map your stories: prepare at least one specific example for each of KPMG's five values, because the same values come back in the partner interview and having a story ready for 'courage' is far better than improvising one under pressure.

Inside the Assessment Centre

KPMG's assessment centre is typically a half day: a group exercise, a written exercise and a partner interview. The group exercise often uses a business case with deliberately incomplete information, which is the point. Assessors want to see who asks clarifying questions early and who charges ahead on assumptions.

• Ask clarifying questions early in the group exercise. The missing information is a designed feature, not an oversight.
• Score by contributing, not by winning. Assessors mark each candidate against a fixed framework. Everyone in your group can pass, and competing with the person next to you is a reliable way to lose marks.
• Bring commercial awareness to the partner interview. KPMG rates it highly. Read the business press and be able to discuss a current issue and what it means for KPMG's clients.
• Bring one prepared example per value. The partner interview is where the five values are tested most directly. Our STAR method guide covers how to structure them.

How KPMG Scores You

SHL reasoning tests are scored against a norm group of comparable applicants and reported as a percentile, not as a raw percentage, which is why '70% correct' tells you nothing on its own. KPMG does not publish its cut scores, and they differ by role, service line, country and intake. Any specific threshold you find quoted online is somebody's guess. The SJT is not scored for correctness in the same way: it is scored against the firm's values framework, which is why a technically reasonable answer can still score badly if it does not reflect how KPMG wants its people to behave.

Your 3-Week Preparation Plan

1. 1Days 1-2: Baseline and values. Sit one timed numerical and one timed verbal test cold. In parallel, read KPMG's five values and write down, for each one, a real example from your own experience.
2. 2Days 3-7: Numerical. Drill percentage change, ratios, growth rates and multi-step table questions. Practise locating the right figure before computing anything.
3. 3Days 8-11: Verbal. Drill True / False / Cannot Say until you apply the rules without thinking. Answer only from the passage.
4. 4Days 12-14: SJT. Work through scenario sets and, for each item, articulate which value the best answer expresses. If you cannot name the value, you are guessing.
5. 5Days 15-17: Video interview. Turn your five value examples into STAR stories. Record three to camera and watch them back.
6. 6Days 18-20: Assessment centre. Run one written exercise under time. Read a week of business news and form a view you could defend to a partner.
7. 7Day 21: Full rehearsal, then stop. One complete timed battery in the morning, then rest. Cramming the night before reliably lowers scores.

Common Mistakes

• Sitting the SJT without reading KPMG's values. The values are the scoring key. Skipping ten minutes of reading is the single most avoidable mistake in the whole process.
• Picking the 'diplomatic' SJT answer. Waiting to see whether someone else raises the issue reads as passivity, not tact.
• Reading the whole data table before the question. In a 25-minute numerical test that habit costs you several questions.
• Importing outside knowledge into the verbal test. Answer strictly from the passage, even when you know the real-world answer.
• Improvising in the video interview. No interviewer will save a rambling answer. Structure it.
• Charging ahead in the group exercise. Incomplete information is deliberate. Ask.

Frequently Asked Questions