KPMG is a professional service company, being one of the Big Four auditors,

along with Deloitte, EY and PwC.

Seated in Amsterdam,[1] the Netherlands, KPMG employs 174,000 people[3] and

has three lines of services: audit, tax, and advisory. Its tax and advisory services
are further divided into various service groups.

The name "KPMG" was chosen when KMG (Klynveld Main Goerdeler) merged with
Peat Marwick.
arly years and mergers[edit]

Peat Marwick logo

Headquarters of KPMG LLP, the United States-based member firm of KPMG

International, at 345 Park Avenue, New York City

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

The KPMG Tower at 355 South Grand Avenue in Los Angeles

KPMG offices at 150 West Jefferson in Detroit

KPMG at the Bay Adelaide West tower in Toronto

The firm's history dates back to 1870 when William Barclay Peat joined an
accounting firm in London and took it over, as William Barclay Peat & Co., in
1891.[4] In 1877 accountancy firm Thomson McLintock opened an office in
Glasgow.[4]

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

In 1925 William Barclay Peat & Co. and Marwick Mitchell & Co. (a firm founded by
James Marwick and Roger Mitchell in New York), merged to form Peat Marwick
Mitchell & Company (later known simply as Peat Marwick).[5]

In 1979 Klynveld Kraayenhof & Co. (Netherlands), McLintock Main Lafrentz

(United Kingdom / 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.[4] 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.[4]

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.[6]

In October 1997, KPMG and Ernst & Young announced that they were to merge.
[7][8] However, while the merger to form PricewaterhouseCoopers was granted
regulatory approval, the KPMG/Ernst & Young tie-up was later abandoned.[9][10]

Recent history[edit]

KPMG building in Kamloops, British Columbia

In 2001 KPMG divested its U.S. consulting firm through an initial public offering of
KPMG Consulting Inc, which is now called BearingPoint, Inc.[11] In early 2009,
BearingPoint filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.[12]

The UK and Dutch consulting arms were sold to Atos Origin in 2002.[13]

In 2003 KPMG divested itself of its legal arm, Klegal[14] and KPMG LLP sold its
Dispute Advisory Services to FTI Consulting.[15]

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
(Azerbaijan, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Armenia and

Georgia), Turkey, Norway, and Saudi Arabia.[16][17] They appointed joint

Chairmen, John Griffith-Jones and Ralf Nonnenmacher.[4] The new headquarters
were located in Frankfurt, Germany.

Global structure[edit]

KPMG 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 cooperative under Swiss law in 2003.[18]

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.[19]

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.
[20] On February 27, 2014 it was announced that Michael Andrew was retiring as
Chairman due to illness [21] and that he would be succeeded by John B.
Veihmeyer,[22] a role he will perform alongside continuing as Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer of KPMGs U.S. firm. Veihmeyer is based in New York City.

KPMG is registered as a multidisciplinary entity which also provides legal

services.[23]

Services[edit]
KPMG is organised into the following three service lines (the 2014 revenue shares
are listed in parentheses):[24]

Audit (42%)
Advisory (37%)
Tax (21%)

Tax arrangements relating to tax avoidance and multinational corporations and

Luxembourg which were negotiated by KPMG became public in 2014 in the socalled Luxembourg Leaks.[25]