Company Overview

The “K” in the name refers to Piet Klynveld, who founded Klynveld Kraayenhof & Co. in Amsterdam in 1917; the “P” refers to William Barclay Peat, who founded William Barclay Peat & Co. in London in 1870; the “M” comes from James Marwick, who cofounded Marwick, Mitchell & Co. in New York in 1897; the “G” belongs to Reinhard Goerdeler, who was longtime chairman of Deutsche Treuhand-Gesellschaft and later CEO of KPMG. KPMG functions as a cooperative umbrella organization overseeing its independent member firms, which are organized by global region. The firm offers assurance, tax and legal, and financial advisory services.

In 2006, KPMG invested heavily in expanding its presence in fast-growing global markets including India, China, Russia, and Latin America, with the largest percentage of growth focused on the Asia Pacific region. Along with its Big Four brethren, KPMG has faced its share of legal and PR headaches, paying exorbitant amounts of money in legal settlement fees—including a $456 million penalty tied to the Department of Justice’s investigation into suspicious tax shelters created in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In response to these and other accounting scandals, the firm has taken multiple actions to avoid further criminal charges or scrutiny. Some of the firm’s efforts include shaking up its tax business management, ending its tax shelter business, increasing internal oversight of its businesses, and creating a website where all the stakeholders affected by Sarbox can interact.

In 2007, KPMG announced its Swiss unit would join the already merged German and UK units to form KPMG Europe, part of an ongoing effort to combine its European units into one centralized unit. As more companies choose to list on European exchanges, KMPG is poised to gain from the growing importance of European capital markets. If you’re a student, check with your campus career center to see whether KPMG comes to your campus; if you’re not a student, or if you’re an experienced job candidate, you can apply online. KPMG offers both winter/spring and summer internships, which often lead to full-time jobs.