With more than 31,000 employees in more than 110 offices across the U.S., KPMG LLP has rightfully earned its place among accounting's Big 4. KPMG, the fourth largest accounting firm in the U.S. by revenues, is the independent U.S. member firm of a Swiss entity KPMG International Cooperative, whose member firms can be found in 154 countries and have 197,000 professionals, including more than 9,000 partners. KPMG's service lines are divided into audit, tax, and advisory, with industry-specific focus in each. 

In the U.S., KPMG works for clients in 16 industry sectors: banking and capital markets; building, construction and real estate; insurance; investment management; alternative investments; retail; food, drink and consumer goods; industrial manufacturing; energy, natural resources and chemicals; healthcare and pharmaceuticals; government and public sector; technology; media and telecommunications; high growth mid market and venture capital; private equity; high growth emerging markets; and Japanese Practice, which works closely with KPMG member firms in Japan to serve Japanese companies doing business in the U.S.  

In addition to being one of the top firms by revenue, KPMG LLP was inducted into Training magazine's hall of fame in 2011, singled out for placing among the top 10 in Training's annual top 125 companies rankings for four consecutive years. And in 2018, KPMG ranked No. 29 on Fortune's annual 100 Best Companies to Work For list, after ranking No. 12 the previous year. KPMG also regularly appears on Working Mother's 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers list. 

The history of KPMG dates back to 1870, when British accountant William Barclay Peat hung his shingle in London. In 1911, Peat reached across the Atlantic, joining forces with New York's Marwick, Mitchell and Company to form Marwick, Mitchell, Peat & Co. After separating for a short while, the two firms re-established their partnership in 1925 and became Peat, Marwick, Mitchell. This was shortened to Peat Marwick International in 1978. Meanwhile, in 1979, a group of international accounting firms in Western Europe and the U.S. made a merger of their own, forming Klynveld Main Goerdeler (KMG). KPMG Peat Marwick was born in 1987 when KMG and Peat Marwick merged, the accounting industry's first (but not last) mega-merger; its name was further shortened to KPMG in 1995.