John Ebner

John Ebner is the Audit Sector Leader for the KPMG LLP Private Equity practice. He is the former National Managing Partner of Audit for KPMG in the U.S. and a global transformation leader with more than 36 years of experience guiding public and private companies through significant change events, where he works with the Vice Chair of Audit to lead a team of more than 800 Audit partners and 7000 Audit professionals, all of whom are committed to delivering a quality audit that is risk-based, industry-specific and tailored to a client’s operational structure and size.

John was formerly the partner in charge of KPMG’s Northern California Audit practice. John joined the firm in 1989 and he has spent much of his career working with publicly traded and private technology companies, including Logitech, Adobe and Electronic Arts. An innovative and analytical thinker, he led a team of almost 8,000 in the United States and over 1,000 in India through a period of significant innovation and change. Overall responsibilities included managing the U.S. operations of the Audit practice, including personnel matters, finance, FP&A, centralized services, and technology development. John also represented the U.S. firm on global committees focused on audit technology and training. From late 2018 until 2019, John served as a KPMG US leader on a team focused on merging the Audit operations of KPMG US and 17 KPMG member firms in Latin America. 

He spent two years in KPMG’s Department of Professional Practice in New York City, KPMG’s national resource center for technical accounting, auditing and SEC filing matters. For seven years he served as one of the firm’s SEC Reviewing Partners, KPMG’s designation for its top technical partners. John assisted in the development of several KPMG publications, including KPMG’s original stock compensation handbook, KPMG’s e-commerce handbook, Defining the Digital Future – Business and Accounting Issues, and served as a technical reviewer for KPMG’s software revenue recognition

Driven by a love for innovation and strategic thinking, John ultimately transitioned to KPMG’s Private Equity Group in 2020 where he helps private equity firms and their portfolio companies drive growth and efficiency. Areas of focus include data migration and rationalization, integration and carve-outs, Gen AI strategy, tax transformation, net working capital improvements, financial close and forecasting, and IPO readiness.

John spent the earlier part of his career focused on public and venture capital-backed technology companies in Silicon Valley.