“We are certainly looking to significantly increase the number of MBAs we take on,” Melanie Gibb, KPMG’s head of experienced hire recruiting told eFinancialCareers.com.

Gibb highlighted business advisory as an MBA destination: “We are looking to hire about 35 – 40 in corporate finance nationally, and we want a real mix of experience from junior level to partner level recruits,” she says. “A significant number of these are likely to be MBA hires.”

Cheryl Levy, KPMG’s national director for experienced hire recruiting in the US, told Businessweek that the firm has plans to make 120 MBA graduate hires this year, double the number hired last year.

“We've been doing MBA recruiting as a huge push for about three years now, and the interest in MBAs has increased now that of some [divisions] that were questioning how they could use MBA grads have seen their success in other practices,” Levy says.

Businessweek says the US firm has also started offering internships to MBA graduates followed by full-time positions once they finish their programmes.