KPMG

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Template:Infobox Company$15.7 billion USD (2005) |

 homepage       = www.kpmg.com

}} KPMG is one of the largest professional services firms in the world. KPMG employs 104,000 people in a global partnership spanning 144 countries. Composite revenues of KPMG member firms in 2005 were $15.7 billion USD. KPMG has three lines of services: audit services, tax services, and advisory services. KPMG is a Big 4 accountancy firm, along with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young and Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.

Each national KPMG firm is an independent legal entity and is a member of KPMG International, a Swiss Verein headquartered in the Netherlands. 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. Under an agreement, 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 will not face criminal prosecution as long as it complies with the terms of its agreement with the government.

KPMG International is led by Michael D.V. Rake, Chairman, Senior Partner of KPMG in the United Kingdom; Michael P. Wareing, CEO, Partner of KPMG in the United Kingdom; John B. Harrison, Chairman-Asia Pacific Region, Partner of KPMG in China and Hong Kong; Timothy P. Flynn, Chairman-Americas Region, Chairman of KPMG in the United States; Ben van der Veer, Chairman-Europe, Middle East and Africa Region, Chairman of KPMG in the Netherlands.

1 Name
2 History
3 See also
4 External links

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Name

K stands for Klynveld. This originates from the accounting firm Klynveld Kraayenhof & Co. founded by Piet Klynveld in Amsterdam in 1917.
P is for Peat, originating from the accounting firm William Barclay Peat & Co., which was founded by William Barclay Peat in London in 1870.
M stands for Marwick. James Marwick founded the accounting firm Marwick, Mitchell & Co. together with Roger Mitchell in New York City in 1897.
G is for Goerdeler. Dr. Reinhard Goerdeler was for many years chairman of the German Deutsche Treuhand-Gesellschaft (DTG) and later chairman of KPMG. He is credited with laying much of the groundwork for the KMG merger.

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History

In 1911, William Barclay Peat & Co. and Marwick Mitchell & Co. merged to form what would later be known as Peat Marwick International (PMI).
In 1979, Klynveld merged with Deutsche Treuhand-Gesellschaft (DTG) and McLintock Main Lafrentz to form Klynveld Main Goerdeler (KMG).
In 1987 both firms joined forces in the first mega-merger of large accounting firms and formed KPMG.
In 1997, KPMG and Ernst & Young announced that they were to merge, in a maneuver largely seen as a spoiling tactic over the merger of Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand. However that merger, to form PricewaterhouseCoopers, was granted regulatory approval and the KPMG/Ernst & Young tie-up was later abandoned.
In 2001, KPMG divested its US consulting firm through an IPO of KPMG Consulting Inc, which is now called BearingPoint, Inc.. A song that was produced for KPMG, Our Vision of Global Strategy, experienced a brief period of Internet notoriety.
In 2002, the UK and Dutch Consulting arms were sold to Atos Origin.
In 2003, KPMG divested itself of its legal arm, Klegal.
In 2005, KPMG LLP admitted criminal wrongdoing in multi-billion dollar tax shelter fraud.