Brief History

KPMG was formed in 1987 with the merger of Peat Marwick International (PMI) and Klynveld Main Goerdeler (KMG) and their individual member firms. Spanning three centuries, the organization's history can be traced through the names of its principal founding members - whose initials form the name "KPMG."

K stands for Klynveld. Piet Klynveld was the founder of the Dutch accounting firm Klynveld Kraayenhof & Co., now KPMG Netherlands. In 1979 Klynveld joined forces with Deutsche Treuhand-Gesellschaft and the international professional firm McLintock Main Lafrentz to form Klynveld Main Goerdeler (KMG).

P is for Peat. William Barclay Peat founded the accounting firm William Barclay Peat & Co. in London in 1870.

M stands for Marwick. James Marwick founded the accounting firm Marwick, Mitchell & Co. with Roger Mitchell in New York City in 1897. In 1911 William Barclay Peat & Co. and Marwick Mitchell & Co. joined forces to form Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co., later to become Peat Marwick International (PMI), a major international accounting and consulting firm.

G is for Goerdeler. Dr. Reinhard Goerdeler was for many years chairman of Deutsche Treuhand-Gesellschaft and later chairman of KMG. He is credited with laying much of the groundwork for the KPMG merger.

In 1987 PMI and KMG embarked upon the accounting profession's first mega-merger and formed KPMG. All member firms throughout the world now carry the KPMG name exclusively or include it in their national firm names.