For more than 150 years, when society has looked to organizations for help to restore fragile belief or to enable progress, professionals from KPMG’s founding firms have stepped forward. They didn’t just observe history, they helped to shape it, becoming synonymous with a pioneering spirit, bold leadership and doing the right thing. That’s a legacy KPMG firms all share and continue to draw inspiration from in our work today.
Through helping other organizations mitigate risks and grasp opportunities, we can drive positive, sustainable change for clients, our people and society at large.
KPMG firms operate in 143 countries and territories, and in FY23, collectively employed more than 273,000 people, serving the needs of business, governments, public-sector agencies, not-for-profits and through KPMG firms' audit and assurance practices, the capital markets.
KPMG is committed to quality and service excellence in all that we do, bringing our best to clients and earning the public's trust through our actions and behaviours both professionally and personally.
We lead with a commitment to quality and integrity across the KPMG global organization, bringing a passion for client success and a purpose to serve and improve the communities in which KPMG firms operate. In a world where rapid change and disruption are the new normal, we inspire confidence and empower change in all we do.
150 years of service
US Federal Reserve System
KPMG’s US firm founders, James Marwick and Roger Mitchell, were selected to conduct an emergency audit and once the Federal Reserve Board was established in 1913, their Firm was drafted by government leadership to help plan the US Federal Reserve System.
Women’s rights
We helped change ICAEW rules to allow women to qualify and later hired the first female chartered accountant.
In 1924, Ethel Watts became the first woman to quality for membership by examination and would later be employed by Sir Harry Peat - Sir William’s son. Today, women make up a third of the ICAEW’s membership.
The first accounting standards
When financial reporting was being heavily criticized in the 1960s and 1970s, the Senior Partner of the UK’s Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co helped inspire confidence by developing the first-ever accounting standards.
Certifying the first democratic elections
Following three days of voting, the counting process wasn’t running smoothly, and the Independent Electoral Commission called KPMG in South Africa to help them verify the results.
To ensure data was kept safe, off-site backups of all the votes had to be taken to KPMG’s offices every few hours, day and night. A few days later, Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress party won the election and the rest is history.
As the world evolved, we adapted
In 1987, the mega-merger of Peat Marwick International (PMI) and KlynveldMain Goerdeler (KMG) was announced to the public and KPMG was formed.
At the time, it was the largest merger in the history of the accounting business. The firms believed so strongly in integrity that it created a common values charter that set a new standard for the industry.
