KPMG breaks Guinness World Record with learning initiative

Big Four firm KPMG has won a Guinness World Records title for a marathon global learning initiative. The organisation obtained the record for views on a cloud technology lesson video.

Known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as The Guinness Book of Records, Guinness World Records is a reference book published annually, listing world records both of human achievements and the extremes of the natural world. In the 2022 edition, the world’s best-selling annual book looks at how despite pandemic and lockdowns, record-breaking has continued.

Among the pages of the hallowed tome this year, KPMG’s UK wing has been named in collaboration with Google Cloud, having broken the record for the most views of a cloud technology lesson video on YouTube in 24 hours. To obtain the title, KPMG hosted a ‘Cloud Curious Challenge’ from midday on the 17th of November to the same time on 18 November – with more than 2,964 people watching the lesson video in that time.

Among the participants watching around the globe were KPMG employees viewing from around the globe, such as the US, Jamaica, Bermuda, Venezuela, Spain, Netherlands, Trinidad & Tobago and Barbados. Meanwhile, for every person that took part in the world record attempt, KPMG has announced it will donate £1 to Marie Curie, the firm’s new charity partner. This takes the donation to the cancer charity to a total of £13,454.

The event was not only attended by consultants, though. With a recent study by 451 Research suggesting 90% of IT decision makers lack cloud skills, businesses around the world face a widening talent gap as they become more dependent on digital tools.

To this end, the record attempt was designed to highlight this issue and give everyone in the firm, as well as school children, the chance to learn more about the cloud and how it connects people and businesses. As such, schools across the UK also took part in the record attempt, with 10,490 pupils from secondary schools in social mobility cold spots across the UK getting involved, including Bradford, Oldham, the Black Country and Stoke-on-Trent.

Lisa Heneghan, Chief Digital Officer at KPMG UK, comments, “We are incredibly proud of this new Guinness World Records title and the amount of money raised for Marie Curie, but this is only the tip of the iceberg. The cloud skills gap is a real problem that has the potential to stunt digital transformation and business growth in the future. Technology is ever more important to the way that we work and live and the corresponding tech skills are essential for our future working lives.”

This is not the first time KPMG’s British organisation has appeared in Guinness World Records, either. In 2020, the firm broke the record for the most people taking part in an online computer programming lesson within 24 hours, raising funds for the firm’s then charity partner the NSPCC. It also previously performed the largest Taekwondo kick back in 2012, involving 805 colleagues across 11 offices.

KPMG operates in 147 countries and territories and has more than 219,000 people working in member firms around the world. It operates from 21 offices across the UK with approximately 16,000 partners and staff.