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LONDON – Bill Michael, UK president of accounting giant KPMG, stepped down after telling the team to stop complaining about the coronavirus pandemic during a virtual meeting earlier this week.
KPMG on Friday confirmed that Michael, who has run the UK company since 2017, has resigned.
Speaking at a virtual city hall on Monday, Michael told the team that, after speaking with partners and employees at different levels of the company, “it almost looks like this is being done for them”, referring to the experience with the coronavirus.
“Well, you cannot play the victim unless you are sick and I hope you are not sick, you are not sick and, if you are not, take control of your life,” he said. “Don’t just sit there and complain, frankly,” said Michael.
Michael also described unconscious prejudice as “complete crap”, adding that he believed “such a thing did not exist”.
In a statement released on Friday about his departure, Michael said he was “truly sorry that my words hurt my colleagues and the impact this week’s events had on them”.
It was because of that incident that Michael said that he now considered his position as “unsustainable” president and decided to leave KPMG. He added that he was “extremely proud” of what the KPMG team had achieved, “especially during these challenging times”.
Bina Mehta, senior elected board member, took over as acting chairman, while Mary O’Connor, head of customers and markets, assumed Michael’s day-to-day executive responsibilities.
In Michael’s biography on the KPMG website, it is written that he “led KPMG’s work related to the financial crisis and defended the debate about the bank’s culture and standards and the need for change in the sector”.