Our history

Our roots go back to the 19th century with the founding of the German-American Trust Company in 1890. 

Our company name KPMG is composed of the initials of the founding members:

K for Klynveld

Piet Klynveld founded the auditing firm Klynveld Kraayenhof & Co. in Amsterdam in 1917.

P for Peat

William Barclay Peat founded the accountancy firm William Barclay Peat & Co. in London in 1870.

M for Marwick

Together with Roger Mitchell, James Marwick founded the accounting firm Marwick, Mitchell & Co. in New York City in 1897.

G for Goerdeler

Dr. Reinhard Goerdeler was the first president of the International Federation of Accountants. He is credited with laying many of the foundations for the KMG merger at the time.

• 2020: global KPMG organisation of independent member firms exceeds 200,000 employees worldwide for the first time
• 27 March 2015: Celebration of the company's 125th anniversary
• October 2008: Change of name to KPMG AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft
• October 2005: Move into the new Berlin office building, Klingelhöferstr. 18 in 10785 Berlin
• June 2002: Complete separation of KPMG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft and KPMG Consulting AG - sale of shares to KPMG Consulting, Inc. in the USA (now BearingPoint, Inc.)
• 1996/1998: Establishment of KPMG's new head office in Germany in Taubenstrasse and relocation of central services to Berlin
• 1 July 1995: Re-acquisition of the property of the former DTG headquarters at Taubenstraße 44-45 in 10117 Berlin
• 18 December 1992: Merger agreement between DTG and KPMG Peat Marwick Treuhand GmbH (merger in 1993)
• 28 March 1990: after the opening of the Berlin Wall in the GDR, permission to open representative offices in Leipzig and Dresden
• 22 June 1989: Agreement with Treuverkehr AG on its merger with DTG on 1 January 1990
• 1987/88: The "non-professional" shareholders leave the company by exchanging their DTG shares for profit-sharing certificates.
• 28 August 1986: Merger of KMG and "Peat Marwick International" to form the worldwide KPMG Group
• 1 July 1979: Foundation of the foreign organisation "Klynveld Main Goerdeler" (KMG)
• 1 November 1974: Establishment of a second legal seat of DTG in Frankfurt a. M.
• 1 July 1972: Merger with four German auditing companies to form the "Vereinigte" Deutsche Treuhand-Gesellschaft (United German Trust Company)
• 28 March 1969: Foundation of "Deutsche Treuhand-Unternehmensberatung GmbH" in Frankfurt a. M. (sold as "KPMG Consulting AG" in 2002)
• 1957: Resumption of foreign connections, initially in Brazil, England and Switzerland
• Autumn 1945: New start of business activities: DTG's Berlin office opens in the western part of the city in the American and British occupation zones.
• 23 November 1943: Destruction of DTG's central administration building in Berlin by an air raid
• 1 October 1931: Introduction of the statutory compulsory audit of public limited companies by auditors in Germany; admission of DTG as an auditing company
• 18 November 1892: Change of name to "Deutsche-Treuhand-Gesellschaft" (DTG) and change of corporate purpose (now, among other things, "assumption of office as pledgee")
• 27 March 1890: Founded as "Deutsch-Amerikanische Treuhand-Gesellschaft" in Berlin to protect German capital investments in North America, making it the oldest German auditing company.