KPMG

Type	Swiss Cooperative
Industry	Professional services
Founded	1987; merger of Peat Marwick International and Klynveld Main Goerdeler
Headquarters	Amstelveen, Netherlands (global)[1]
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Michael Andrew (Chairman)
Services	Audit Tax Advisory
Revenue	US$22.7 billion (2011)[2]
Employees	145,000[2]
Website	KPMG.com

KPMG is one of the largest professional services networks in the world and one of the Big Four auditors, along with Deloitte, Ernst & Young (EY) and PwC. Its global headquarters is located in Amstelveen, Netherlands.^[1]

KPMG employs 145,000 people^[2] and has three lines of services: audit, tax, and advisory. Its advisory services are further divided into three service groups - Management Consulting, Risk Consulting, and Transaction & Restructuring.

History[link]

Early years and mergers[link]

The 34-story KPMG Tower on De Maisonneuve Boulevard in Montreal.

KPMG offices at 150 West Jefferson in Detroit.

The firm was established in 1870 when William Barclay Peat formed an accounting firm in London.^[3] In 1877 accountancy firm Thomson McLintock opened an office in Glasgow^[3] and in 1911 William Barclay Peat & Co. and Marwick Mitchell & Co. merged to form Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co, later known as Peat Marwick.

Meanwhile in 1917 Piet Klijnveld opened his accounting-firm in Amsterdam. Later he merged with Kraayenhof to form Klynveld Kraayenhof & Co.

In 1979 Klynveld Kraayenhof & Co. (Netherlands), Thomson McLintock (United States) and Deutsche Treuhandgesellschaft (Germany) formed KMG (Klynveld Main Goerdeler) as a grouping of independent national practices to create a strong European-based international firm.^[3] Then in 1987 KMG and Peat Marwick joined forces in the first mega-merger of large accounting firms and formed a firm called KPMG in the US, and most of the rest of the world, and Peat Marwick McLintock in the UK.^[3]

In 1990 the two firms settled on the common name of KPMG Peat Marwick McLintock but in 1991 the firm was renamed KPMG Peat Marwick and in 1999 the name was reduced again to KPMG.

In 1997 KPMG and Ernst & Young announced that they were to merge. However, while the merger to form PricewaterhouseCoopers was granted regulatory approval, the KPMG/Ernst & Young tie-up was later abandoned.^[4]

Recent history[link]

In 2001 KPMG divested its U.S. consulting firm through an initial public offering of KPMG Consulting Inc, which is now called BearingPoint, Inc.^[5] In early 2009, BearingPoint filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and proceeded to sell portions of the firm to Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and other parties.^[6]

The UK and Dutch consulting arms were sold to Atos Origin in 2002.^[7]

In 2003 KPMG divested itself of its legal arm, Klegal^[8] and KPMG LLP sold its Dispute Advisory Services to FTI Consulting.^[9]

KPMG's member firms in the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein merged to form KPMG Europe LLP in October 2007. These member firms were followed by Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, CIS (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Georgia), Turkey, Norway, and Saudi Arabia.^[10] They appointed joint Chairmen, John Griffith-Jones and Ralf Nonnenmacher.^[3] The new headquarters were located in Frankfurt, Germany.

It was announced in December 2008 that two of Tremont Group’s Rye Select funds, audited by KPMG, had $2.37 billion invested with the Madoff "Ponzi scheme."^[11] Class action suits were filed.^[12]

Global structure[link]

KMPG office in the Squaire building at Frankfurt Airport

Each national KPMG firm is an independent legal entity and is a member of KPMG International Cooperative, a Swiss entity registered in the Swiss Canton of Zug. KPMG International changed its legal structure from a Swiss Verein to a co-operative under Swiss law in 2003.^[13]

This structure in which the Cooperative provides support services only to the member firms is similar to other professional services networks. The member firms provide the services to client. The purpose is to limit the liability of each independent member.^[14]

KPMG International is led by:^[15]

• Michael Andrew, Chairman, KPMG International
• Alan Buckle, Deputy Chairman, KPMG International
• Rolf Nonnenmacher, Chairman, Europe, Middle East, Africa and India Region
• John Veihmeyer, Chairman, Americas Region
• Hideyo Uchiyama, Chairman, Asia Pacific Region

Michael Andrew, previously Chairman of KPMG in Australia, assumed the Global Chairmanship in September 2011 and is based in Hong Kong. This is the first time a Big Four accounting organisation has had its global leader based in Asia Pacific.^[16]

KPMG in China[link]

KPMG in China has 13 offices (including KPMG Advisory (China) Limited) in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenyang, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Qingdao, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Hong Kong SAR and Macau SAR, with around 9,000 professionals.^[17][18] Stephen Yiu is the Chairman of KPMG China.^[19][20]

Services[link]

KPMG offers the following services:^[21]

• Audit:
  1. Financial Statement Audit
  2. Regulatory Audit
• Tax: Business and Personal Tax services
  1. China Tax services ^[22]
  2. Asia Pacific Trade and Customs services^[23]
• Advisory: KPMG's advisory services are organized into three themes (growth, governance and performance) and nine service lines:
  1. Accounting Advisory Services
  2. Business Performance Services
  3. Corporate Finance
  4. Financial Risk Management Services
  5. Forensic
  6. Internal Audit, Risk and Compliance Services (IARCS)
  7. IT Advisory
  8. Restructuring
  9. Recruitment
  10. Transaction Services (M&A and Strategy)
• Others:
  1. Global China Practice ^[24]

Awards[link]

• 2011 World's Best Outsourcing Advisors - in recognition of the firm's depth of experience, global reach and holistic approach.^[25]
• Inducted into Working Mother Hall of Fame after being honored for 15 years as one of Working Mother magazine's 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers.^[26]
• International Tax Review Asia Tax Awards, 2008-2010 - in recognition of the accomplishments of KPMG's Tax Services and Global Transfer Pricing Services team.^[27] KPMG China was awarded the 2010 Hong Kong Tax Firm of the Year and the 2010 China Transfer Pricing Firm of the Year at the International Tax Review's 2010 Asia Tax Awards ceremony in Singapore on 23 November 2010.^[28] KPMG's global transfer pricing services in China and Hong Kong is headed by Chi Cheng.^[29][30][31]
• Top 2 overall in Consultancy Rankings 2009 by OpRisk & Compliance - in recognition of KPMG's experience in risk management.^[32]
• World's most attractive employers, 2010 - ranked Second, and First of the Big Four - in recognition of KPMG's efforts of being an Employer of Choice.^[33]

Name and branding[link]

KPMG building in Kamloops, British Columbia.

Roots for the name KPMG stem from the names of four partners who merged their own independent accounting firms:

• K stands for Klynveld, after Piet Klynveld, founder of the accounting firm Klynveld Kraayenhof & Co. in Amsterdam in 1917.
• P stands for Peat, after William Barclay Peat, founder of the accounting firm William Barclay Peat & Co. in London in 1870.
• M stands for Marwick, after James Marwick, co-founder of the accounting firm Marwick, Mitchell & Co. in New York City in 1897.
• G stands for Goerdeler, after Reinhard Goerdeler, chairman of the German accounting firm Deutsche Treuhand-Gesellschaft (DTG) and, later, chairman of KPMG.

International Publications[link]

KPMG distributes a number of publications online and in print. The Corporate and Indirect Tax Rate Survey analyzes current rates incurred by international business and compares them with their equivalents of years past.^[34] Similarly, the Individual Income Tax and Social Security Rate Survey compares rates with those of years past in jurisdictions around the world.^[35] Competitive Alternatives is primarily focused on analyzing international business costs and acts as a guide to comparing international business site locations in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.^[36] Exploring Global Frontiers - The New Emerging Destinations is a report focused on analyzing international locations for IT outsourcing.^[37]

KPMG in China produces many publications on industry trends in both English and Chinese and these can be found on the China firm website.^[38]

Staff[link]

The US branch of KPMG was rated one of the top 10 companies for working mothers.^[39] It is also ranked No. 56 on Fortune Magazine's list of 100 Best Companies to Work For, voted for by employees.^[40]

KPMG ranks No. 5 out of 125 among companies with the best training programmes according to "Training Magazine".^[41]

KPMG was the preferred employer among the Big Four accounting firms according to College Grad.com.^[42] It was also ranked No.4 on the list of "50 Best Places to Launch a Career" in 2009 according to BusinessWeek.^[43]

In 2008 KPMG in the UK was named the best big company to work for by The Times. This was the fourth consecutive year that KPMG has made the top three.^[44]

In 2009 in the UK, KPMG introduced a programme known as 'Flexible Futures'. This allowed staff to volunteer to give the firm the option to either send them on a sabbatical at 30% pay for up to 12 weeks, or to reduce their working hours to 4 days a week. The option remains open to the firm until October 2010. This facility has been invoked by the firm in some departments. KPMG publicised this as innovative and an alternative approach to redundancies.^[45] Reaction within the firm was generally positive, with over 75% of staff volunteering. However over 100 staff had been made redundant prior to this announcement, leading some to accuse KPMG of being hypocritical in the message that they were given.

In October 2010, for the 8th year in a row, KPMG was named one of "Canada's Top 100 Employers" by Mediacorp Canada Inc., and was featured in Maclean's newsmagazine. In November 2010 KPMG was also named one of Greater Toronto's Top Employers, which was announced by the Toronto Star newspaper.^[46]

KPMG in Leeds, West Yorkshire.

Criticisms[link]

Rite Aid[link]

In 2003, KPMG agreed to pay $125 million to settle a lawsuit stemming from the firm's audits of the drug chain Rite Aid.^[47]

Lernout & Hauspie[link]

In 2004, KPMG agreed to pay $115 million to settle lawsuits stemming from the collapse of software company Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products NV.^[48]

Tax shelter fraud[link]

In early 2005, the United States member firm, KPMG LLP, was accused by the United States Department of Justice of fraud in marketing abusive tax shelters. KPMG LLP admitted criminal wrongdoing in creating fraudulent tax shelters to help wealthy clients avoid $2.5 billion in taxes and agreed to pay $456 million in penalties in exchange for a deferred prosecution agreement. KPMG LLP would not face criminal prosecution if it complied with the terms of its agreement with the government. On January 3, 2007, the criminal conspiracy charges against KPMG were dropped.^[49]

Before the settlement, the firm, on the advice of its counsel Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, removed several tax partners and admitted "unlawful conduct" by those partners. The firm agreed to cooperate with the U.S. Department of Justice's investigation and help prosecute former partners who had devised and sold the tax shelters. Additionally, the firm hired former U.S. district judge Sven Erik Holmes to monitor its legal and regulatory affairs.

Siemens[link]

In February 2007, KPMG Germany was investigated for ignoring questionable payments in the Siemens bribery case.^[50] In November 2008, the Siemens Supervisory Board recommended changing auditors from KPMG to Ernst & Young.^[51]

Others[link]

In 2006, Fannie Mae sued KPMG for malpractice for approving years of erroneous financial statements.^[52]

In March 2008 KPMG was accused of enabling “improper and imprudent practices” at New Century Financial, a failed mortgage company^[53] and KPMG agreed to pay $80 million to settle suits from Xerox shareholders over manipulated earnings reports.^[54]

In August 2010 it was reported by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority to the Swedish accountancy regulator after HQ Bank was forced into involuntary liquidation after the Financial Supervisory Authority revoked all its licences for breach of banking regulations.^[55]

According to an independent panel formed to investigate irregular payments made by Olympus which reported in December 2011, KPMG's affiliate in Japan failed in its duty to uncover fraud.^[56]

Sponsorship[link]

The Swedish member firm was main sponsor for Swedish biathlete Magdalena Forsberg, six times world champion and twice olympic medalist. Forsberg was working as a tax consultant at the KPMG Sundsvall office parallel with her athletic career.^[57]

In February 2008, Phil Mickelson, ranked one of the best golfers in the world, signed a three-year global sponsorship deal with KPMG. As part of the agreement, Mickelson will wear the KPMG logo on his headwear during all golf related appearances.^[58]

The Canadian member firm sponsored Alexandre Bilodeau, who won the first gold medal for Canada on home-soil in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Alexandre's father is a tax partner in the Montreal office.^[59][60]

Notable former and current employees[link]

Business[link]

• Margaret Jackson - chairwoman of Qantas (2000–2007)
• Syd Kessler - entrepreneur
• Michael O'Leary - CEO of Ryanair (1994–present)
• Zarin Patel - CFO of the BBC
• Colin Sharman, Baron Sharman - chairman of Aviva (2006–present)
• Sir Michael Rake - Chairman of BT (2007–present)
• Douglas Flint - Chairman of HSBC (2010–present)

Politics and public service[link]

• Steve Bracks - Premier of Victoria, Australia (1999–2007)
• Yvo de Boer - Executive Secretary United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (2006–2010)
• Jerry Finnell - Mayor of Del Mar, California (2004–present)
• Nick Gibb - Member of the British Parliament (1997–present)
• Mark Harper - Member of the British Parliament (2005–present)
• Toby Harris, Baron Harris of Haringey - member of the London Assembly (2000–04); chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority (2000–04)
• Michael Hirst - Member of the British Parliament (1983–87)
• Edmund Ho - Chief Executive of Macau (1999–2009)
• Hilbrand Nawijn - Dutch Minister for Integration (2002–2003)
• L. Glenn Perry - Chief Accountant United States Securities and Exchange Commission Enforcement Division (1982–1984)^[61]
• Kevin Rudd - Australian Prime Minister (2007–2010)
• Rita Verdonk - Dutch Minister for Integration and Immigration (2003–2007)
• Salmaan Taseer - Governor of Punjab Province, Pakistan (2008–2011)
• Jacqui Smith - Home Secretary (2007–10)
• Wouter Bos - Dutch Minister of Finance (2007–10)
• David Carew - Minister of Trade and Industry, Sierra Leone (2009–present)
• Karen Bradley - British Conservative Party politician and the Member of Parliament (2010–present)

Other[link]

• Leslie Ferrar - Treasurer to Charles, Prince of Wales
• Amr Khaled - Popular moderate Muslim preacher
• Bruce Marshall - Writer
• Michael Peat - Principal Private Secretary to Charles, Prince of Wales
• Nate Silver - Statistician/journalist, creator of PECOTA baseball projection system and the political blog FiveThirtyEight; named one of Time Magazine's "100 Most Influential People" in 2009.
• Paul Tisdale - Former football player
• Johan van der Walt - Forensic auditor
• Kateryna Yushchenko-Chumachenko - wife of Viktor Yushchenko, former President of Ukraine
• Bernard Avishai - Writer
• Paul Lieberstein - Screenwriter/Actor, The Office (US)
• Gibby Haynes - Lead singer, Butthole Surfers
• Barry Hearn - Sports entrepreneur
• Sir David Tweedie - Chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board

See also[link]

Companies portal

• Category:KPMG people

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: KPMG

• Official international website