KPMG

Background Summary

KPMG LLP, is part of the UK’s ‘Big Four’ accountancy firms and operates from 21 offices across the UK – with approximately 17,000 partners and staff. It was established through various mergers from different accounting firms. 

Its origins date back to the 1870s when a young William Barclay Peat, began working as a clerk at a firm that would eventually take his name. In 1910, his firm merged with Thomson McLintock and Co – which was founded by Thomson McLintock in Glasgow.

Meanwhile in 1917, Piet Klynveld opened a small accountancy firm, Klynveld Kraayenhof and Co. in Amsterdam. In time, this eventually grew to be one of the biggest accountancy firms in the region. 

Later, Dr Reinhard Goerdeler joined the firm Deutsche Treuhand-Gesellschaft in 1953. In 1975, DTG merged with Piet Klynveld’s firm to become Klynveld Main Goerdeler (KMG). 

Eventually, these two brands merged to form KMG Thomson McLintock. By 1986, KMG Thomson McLintock had merged into PMM. The new firm in the UK was known for a short time as KPMG Peat Marwick and later just KPMG. 

In the 1990’s the group began taking on clients for major auditing and advisory roles – such as the Stonehenge visitor centre, the Tate Modern and the Wales Millennium Centre.

Today Jonathan Holt is the company’s CEO in the UK while Bill Thomas is the global chairman and CEO 

KPMG offers four main services to its clients. Namely, audit, tax, consulting and deal advisory. 

  • Audit and Insurance: Providing audits and fresh insight to businesses with new technologies.
  • Tax and Legal: Build an ideal target operating model, improve compliance processes, engage in discussions around responsible tax and manage complex transactions.
  • Advisory: Involving giving advice on deals, consulting with businesses to help them improve and helping business develop new strategies for success.
  • Private Enterprise: Appoint advisers to your business to help improve, plan for an exit, or manage the transition of wealth or your business to the next generation.

Financials

In 2023, KPMG saw its annual turnover jump 9% up to £2.96bn. KPMG’s consulting arm also recorded an increase in sales of 7%, with clients seeking advice on a range of transformation projects including digitisation. The firm’s audit practice grew 19%, driven by expanded reporting requirements.

The wider slowdown in the global deals market and challenging UK market conditions in the firm’s fourth quarter of financial reporting saw deal advisory sales decrease in the year by 6%.

Recent Coverage

In April 2024, KPMG became the first white collar British business to join the government’s scheme to get prison leavers into work. Having successfully employed its first cohort of prison leavers in a range of different roles, including technology development, it is now working with the Ministry of Justice to encourage other big-name businesses to follow suit.

In March 2024, the company voted to re-elect CEO Jon Holt for a second term. He was initially appointed as chief executive in April 2021, following KPMG in the UK’s move to a new governance model, which created separate roles for its chair and chief executive. His term will run till 30 September 2029.

KPMG also launched a task force named Wired for Growth to support startups in North West England. This task force, led by KPMG Acceleris, aims to assist founders in overcoming barriers and identifying opportunities for growth. It released a comprehensive playbook to guide startups through various stages of growth and funding, emphasising the importance of the North West’s startup ecosystem.

Moreover, KPMG has shown commitment to environmental sustainability, boasting an 81% increase in renewable energy consumption and a 22% reduction in CO2 emissions from their 2019 baseline. They’ve also revised its Supplier Code of Conduct to align with their ESG commitments, demonstrating a holistic approach to sustainability and corporate responsibility.

In addition to environmental efforts, KPMG has partnered with Blue J to launch Ask Blue J, a generative AI-powered tax tool. This tool, exclusive to KPMG among UK’s big four accountancy firms, enables detailed tax research and prediction. Stuart Tait, KPMG UK’s partner and CTO, highlights the transformative impact of generative AI in the tax profession, emphasising the value of this technology in providing fast and precise tax insights.

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