KPMG LLP

ABOUT THIS COMPANY:

The Big Four’s four-lettered firm

With approximately 23,000 employees in 87 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 revenue, is the independent U.S. member firm of KPMG International Cooperative, which is a Swiss entity; member firms of the KPMG network can be found in 152 countries and have 145,000 employees, including more than 8,000 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 finance; building, construction and real estate; insurance; investment management; alternative investments; retail; food, drink and consumer goods; diversified industrials; energy, natural resources and chemicals; healthcare and pharmaceutical; government and public sector; technology; media and telecommunications; high growth mid market; 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. 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, forming a business alliance with New York’s Marwick, Mitchell and Company. The alliance was formalized in a 1925 merger, and the newly combined firm took the name Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Copartners. 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.