KPMG

KPMG - Accounting firm for DBS constellation notes that also adapt inaccurate accounting method for Siemen and LHSP in Europe that I bought the stocks before under law suit in fruads of accounting methods.

Right now KPMG is also involved in HK banks frauds of DBS Constellation Notes for their dubious accounting methods as charged even by Shanghai Commercial bank manager that involved in bank frauds and sold their Constellation Notes to me and I had sent the complaint letters to Legco last year for Legco to investigate.


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

KPMG KPMG Logo

Type Swiss Cooperative
Founded 1987; merger of Peat Marwick International and Klynveld Main Goerdeler
Headquarters Flag of the Netherlands.svg Amstelveen, Netherlands (global)[1]
Key people Timothy P. Flynn (Chairman)[2]
Industry Professional services
Services Audit
Tax
Advisory
Revenue ▲$22.7 billion USD (2008)
Employees 136,000
Website www.kpmg.com

KPMG is one of the largest professional services firms in the world and one of the Big Four auditors, along with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (Deloitte) and Ernst & Young (EY). Its global headquarters are located in Amstelveen, Netherlands.[1]

KPMG employs over 136,500 people[3] in a global network of professional services firms spanning over 140 countries.[4] KPMG has three lines of services: audit, tax, and advisory.

Contents


* 1 History
o 1.1 Early years and mergers
o 1.2 Recent history
* 2 Global structure
* 3 Services
* 4 Major clients
* 5 Name and branding
* 6 Staff
* 7 Criticisms
o 7.1 Rite Aid
o 7.2 Lernout & Hauspie
o 7.3 Tax shelter fraud
o 7.4 Siemens
o 7.5 Others
* 8 Sponsorship
* 9 Notable current and former employees
o 9.1 Business
o 9.2 Politics and public service
o 9.3 Other
* 10 References
* 11 External links

History
Early years and mergers
Headquarters of KPMG LLP, the United States-based member firm of KPMG International, at 345 Park Avenue, New York City, New York.
The 34-storey KPMG Tower on De Maisonneuve Boulevard in Montreal.

The firm was established in 1870 when William Barclay Peat formed an accounting firm in London.[5] In 1877 accountancy firm Thomson McLintock opened an office in Glasgow[5] and in 1911 William Barclay Peat & Co. and Marwick Mitchell & Co. merged to form Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co, later known as Peat Marwick.

Meanwhile in 1917 Piet Klynveld opened his accounting-firm in Amsterdam. Later he merged with Kraayenhof to form Klynveld Kraayenhof & Co.

In 1979 Thomson McLintock formed KMG (Klynveld Main Goerdeler) as a grouping of independent national practices to create a strong European-based international firm.[5] Then in 1987 Thomson McLintock/KMG and Peat Marwick joined forces in the first mega-merger of large accounting firms and formed a firm called KPMG in the US and Peat Marwick McLintock in the UK.[5].

In 1990 the two firms settled on the common name of KPMG Peat Marwick McClintock but in 1991 the firm was renamed KPMG Peat Marwick and in 1995 the name was reduced again to KPMG

In 1997 KPMG and Ernst & Young announced that they were to merge, in a manoeuvre largely seen as a spoiling tactic over the merger of Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand. However that merger, to form PricewaterhouseCoopers, was granted regulatory approval while the KPMG/Ernst & Young tie-up was later abandoned.[6]
[edit] Recent history

In 2001 KPMG divested its U.S. consulting firm through an IPO of KPMG Consulting Inc, which is now called BearingPoint, Inc.[7] In early 2009, BearingPoint filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and proceeded to sell portions of the firm to Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and other parties.[8]

The UK and Dutch consulting arms were sold to Atos Origin in 2002.[9]

In 2003 KPMG divested itself of its legal arm, Klegal[10] and KPMG LLP sold its Dispute Advisory Services to FTI Consulting.[11]

KPMG's member firms in the UK, Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein merged to form KPMG Europe LLP in October 2007. They appointed joint Chairmen, John Griffith-Jones and Ralf Nonnenmacher.[5]

It was announced in December 2008 that two of Tremont Group’s Rye Select funds, audited by KPMG, had $2.37 billion invested with the Madoff "Ponzi scheme."[12] Class action suits were filed.[13]

Global structure

Each national KPMG firm is an independent legal entity and is a member of KPMG International, a Swiss cooperative registered in the Swiss Canton of Zug. KPMG International changed its legal structure from a Swiss Verein to a cooperative under Swiss law in 2003.[14]

KPMG International is led by:[15]

* Timothy P. Flynn, Chairman, KPMG International
* Michael Wareing, CEO, KPMG International
* John Griffith-Jones, Chairman, Europe, Middle East, Africa and India Region
* John B. Harrison, Deputy Chairman, KPMG International
* John Veihmeyer, Chairman, Americas Region
* Carlson Tong, Chairman, Asia Pacific Region

Services

KPMG offers the following services:[16]

* Audit: Statutory Audit and Financial Statement Audit
* Tax: Business and Personal Tax services
* Advisory: KPMG's advisory services are organized into three themes (growth, governance and performance) and nine service lines:
1. Accounting Advisory Services
2. Business Performance Services
3. Corporate Finance
4. Financial Risk Management Services
5. Forensics
6. Internal Audit, Risk and Compliance Services (IARCS)
7. IT Advisory
8. Restructuring
9. Transaction Services (M&A)

Major clients
The 34-storey KPMG Centre in Dallas, Texas.

KPMG member firms serve as the independent auditors for a large number of major corporations:

* Consulting: Accenture, Computer Sciences Corporation, Gartner, Shaw Group

* Construction and Real Estate: AMEC, Carillion, CB Richard Ellis, KBR, Lend Lease Corporation, Leighton Holdings, Tishman Speyer, Jones Lang LaSalle, Mirvac

* Energy: Caltex, Citgo, Devon Energy, Halliburton, Husky, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, LUKoil, Murphy Oil, Occidental Petroleum, Petrobras, Reliant Energy, Sinopec, TransCanada Pipelines, Valero Energy Corporation

* Financial Services: Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, AIB, Aetna, Allianz, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Bank of East Asia, Bank of Montreal, Bank of New York Mellon, Bank of Nova Scotia, Citigroup, Climate Exchange, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Börse, Dresdner Bank, Fidelity National Financial, Fidelity National Information Services, First Republic Bank, Insurance Australia Group, International Bank of Commerce, Itochu, Hang Seng Bank, HBOS, Hiscox, HSBC,Legg Mason, MassMutual Financial Group, Moody's, Munich Re Group, Nationwide Financial, Northern Trust, Old Mutual, Orix, Oppenheimer Funds, Perpetual Limited, Prudential plc, Raymond James Financial, Salomon Smith Barney, Société Générale, Standard Chartered Bank, Travelers, Visa International, Wachovia, Wells Fargo

* Government & Education: CPS Energy, City of San Antonio, Duke University, Johns Hopkins University, Georgia Lottery, Office of Personnel Management, St. Mary's University, Santa Clara University, State of New Jersey, State of Texas, State of Illinois, Triumphant Institute of Management Education, University of Chicago, US Department of Energy, US Department of Homeland Security, US Department of Interior, US Department of Justice, US Department of Treasury

* Healthcare: Ansell, Kaiser Foundation, Providence Health System, Partners In Health

* Hotels: Hyatt Corporation

* Industrial Products: Asahi Glass Co., BASF, BMHC, BMW, Boral, Cemex, DaimlerChrysler, General Electric, Greatpac, Honda, Jabil Circuit, Komatsu Limited, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Mitsubishi Electric, Navistar International, Severstal, Sumitomo Group, ThyssenKrupp AG, Weyerhaeuser

* Media: BBC, Bertelsmann, ITV, Sulekha, Metro International, National Geographic Society, NBC Universal, R.H. Donnelley, RealNetworks, Sega, Sony BMG, Sun-Times Media Group, Wolters Kluwer, Virgin Group

* Mining: BHP Billiton, Rusal

* Pharmaceutical: AstraZeneca, Pfizer

* Retail & Consumer Products: Alberto-Culver, Arla, Asahi Breweries, Associated British Foods, Burger King, Cargill, Carlsberg, Carrefour, ConAgra Foods, Costco, Darden Restaurants, Diageo, Federated Department Stores, Jack in the Box, J.C. Penney, General Mills, Goodman Fielder, Hasbro, Heineken, The Hershey Company, Home Depot, Hooters of America, Macy's, Maple Leaf Foods, Metro AG, Mohawk Industries, Morton's of Chicago, Nestlé, Netflix, Office Max, PepsiCo, Publix Super Markets, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Seaboard, Shiseido, Supervalu, Winn-Dixie, Yum! Brands

* Technology: Adobe Systems, Applied Materials, Beckman Coulter, Boston Scientific, Broadcom, Carl Zeiss AG, CA Inc., Cerner, CNET Networks, Dolby Laboratories, Electronic Arts, EDS, Ericsson,LG Group, Motorola, National Semiconductor, Navteq, Nortel, Olympus Corporation, Philips, Samsung, Sanmina-SCI, Symantec, TDK Corporation, TiVO, WebEx, Wipro Technologies, VeriSign

* Telecoms: Cable & Wireless, Cablevision, CenturyTel, China Mobile, China Telecom, Citizens Communications, Embarq, Telecom New Zealand, PCCW, Qwest, Rogers Communications, SprintNextel

* Travel and Transportation: Air France, Alaska Airlines, Amtrak, Asiana Airlines, Brink's, BMW, Cathay Pacific, China Southern Airlines, Chrysler LLC, Daimler AG, EasyJet, EWS, EVA Air, Frontier Airlines, KLM, MTR Corporation, Norfolk Southern Railway, Qantas, Ryanair, US Airways, WestJet

Name and branding
KPMG building in Kamloops, British Columbia.

Roots for the name KPMG stem from the names of four partners who merged their own independent accounting firms:

* K stands for Klynveld, after Piet Klynveld, founder of the accounting firm Klynveld Kraayenhof & Co. in Amsterdam in 1917.

* P stands for Peat, after William Barclay Peat, founder of the accounting firm Wiiliam Barclay Peat & Co. in London in 1870.

* M stands for Marwick, after James Marwick, co-founder of the accounting firm Marwick, Mitchell & Co. in New York City in 1897.

* G stands for Goerdeler, after Dr. Reinhard Goerdeler, chairman of the German accounting firm Deutsche Treuhand-Gesellschaft (DTG) and, later, chairman of KPMG.

Staff

The US branch of KPMG was rated one of the top 10 companies for working mothers.[17] It is also ranked No. 56 on Fortune Magazine's list of 100 Best Companies to Work For, voted for by employees. [18]

KPMG ranks No. 5 out of 125 among companies with the best training programs according to "Training Magazine".[19]

KPMG was the preferred employer among the Big Four accounting firms according to College Grad.com.[20] It was also ranked No.5 on the list of "50 Best Places to Launch a Career" in 2008.[21]

In 2008 KPMG in the UK was named the best big company to work for by The Times. This was the fourth consecutive year that KPMG has made the top three winning three times in that four years. If a good position is obtained in the survey staff receive an extra days holiday, some have suggested that this could influence how staff fill in the survey thus putting the validity of the award in doubt.[22]

In 2009 in the UK, KPMG introduced programme known as 'Flexible Futures'. This allowed staff to volunteer to give the firm the option to either send them on a sabbatical at 30% pay for up to 12 weeks, or to reduce their working hours to 4 days a week. The option remains open to the firm until October 2010. This facility has been invoked by the firm in some departments. KPMG publicised this as innovative and an alternative approach to redundancies. Reaction within the firm was generally positive, with over 75% of staff volunteering. However over 100 staff had been made redundant prior to this announcement, leading some to accuse KPMG of being hypocritical in the message that they were given.[23]

In October 2008, KPMG was named one of "Canada's Top 100 Employers" by Mediacorp Canada Inc., and was featured in Maclean's newsmagazine. Later that month, KPMG was also named one of Greater Toronto's Top Employers, which was announced by the Toronto Star newspaper.[24]
KPMG in Leeds, West Yorkshire.

Criticisms

Rite Aid

In 2003, KPMG agreed to pay $125 million to settle a lawsuit stemming from the firm's audits of the drug chain Rite Aid.[25]
Lernout & Hauspie

In 2004, KPMG agreed to pay $115 million to settle lawsuits stemming from the collapse of software company Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products NV.[26]- I bought this company stock before
-
Tax shelter fraud
Main article: KPMG tax shelter fraud

In early 2005, the United States member firm, KPMG LLP, was accused by the United States Department of Justice of fraud in marketing abusive tax shelters. KPMG LLP admitted criminal wrongdoing in creating fraudulent tax shelters to help wealthy clients avoid $2.5 billion in taxes and agreed to pay $456 million in penalties in exchange for a deferred prosecution agreement. KPMG LLP would not face criminal prosecution if it complied with the terms of its agreement with the government. On January 3, 2007, the criminal conspiracy charges against KPMG were dropped.[27] However, Federal Attorney Michael J. Garcia stated that the charges could be reinstated if KPMG does not continue to submit to continued monitorship through September 2008.[28]

Before the settlement, the firm, on the advice of its counsel Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, removed several tax partners and admitted "unlawful conduct" by those partners. The firm agreed to cooperate with DOJ's investigation and help prosecute former partners who had devised and sold the tax shelters. Additionally, the firm hired former U.S. district judge Sven Erik Holmes to monitor its legal and regulatory affairs.

Siemens

In February 2007 KPMG Germany was investigated for ignoring questionable payments in the Siemens bribery case.[29] (Siemens agreed to pay a record $1.34 billion in fines to settle the case in December, 2008.) In November 2008 the Siemens Supervisory Board recommended changing auditors from KPMG to Ernst & Young.[30]-I also owned this stocks

Others

In 2006, Fannie Mae sued KPMG for malpractice for approving years of erroneous financial statements.[31]In March 2008 KPMG was accused of enabling “improper and imprudent practices” at New Century Financial, a failed mortgage company[32] and KPMG agreed to pay $80 million to settle suits from Xerox shareholders over manipulated earnings reports.[33]

Sponsorship

In February 2008, Phil Mickelson, ranked one of the best golfers in the world, signed a three-year global sponsorship deal with KPMG. As part of the agreement, Mickelson will wear the KPMG logo on his headwear during all golf related appearances.[34]

Notable current and former employees

Business

* Margaret Jackson - chairwoman of QANTAS (2000-2007)
* Syd Kessler - entrepreneur
* Michael O'Leary - CEO of Ryanair (1994-present)
* Zarin Patel - CFO of the BBC
* Colin Sharman, Baron Sharman - chairman of Aviva (2006-present)
* Sir Michael Rake - Chairman of BT (2007- present)

Politics and public service

* Steve Bracks - Premier of Victoria, Australia (1999-2007)
* Jerry Finnell - Mayor of Del Mar, California (2004-present)
* Nick Gibb - Member of the British Parliament (1997-present)
* Mark Harper - Member of the British Parliament (2005-present)
* Toby Harris, Baron Harris of Haringey - member of the London Assembly (2000-04); chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority (2000-04)
* Michael Hirst - Member of the British Parliament (1983-87)
* Edmund Ho - Chief Executive of Macau (1999-present)
* Hilbrand Nawijn - Dutch Minister for Integration (2002-2003)
* L. Glenn Perry - Chief Accountant United States Securities and Exchange Commission Enforcement Division (1982-1984)[35]
* Kevin Rudd - Australian Prime Minister (2007-present)
* Rita Verdonk - Dutch Minister for Integration and Immigration (2003–2007)
* Salmaan Taseer - Governor of Punjab Province, Pakistan (2008-present)

Other

* Leslie Ferrar - Treasurer to Charles, Prince of Wales
* Amr Khaled - Popular moderate Muslim preacher.
* Bruce Marshall - Writer
* Michael Peat - Principal Private Secretary to Charles, Prince of Wales
* Nate Silver - Managing Partner of Baseball Prospectus, creator of PECOTA baseball projection system,[36] and creator of political blog FiveThirtyEight.com.
* Paul Tisdale - Former football player
* Johan van der Walt - Forensic auditor
* Kateryna Yushchenko-Chumachenko - wife of Viktor Yushchenko, current President of Ukraine
* Bernard Avishai - Writer
* Paul Lieberstein - Screenwriter/Actor, The Office (US)
* Gibby Haynes - Lead singer, Butthole Surfers
* Barry Hearn - Sports entrepreneur

References

1. ^ a b KPMG International: HQ
2. ^ KPMG International names new Chairman
3. ^ KPMG 2008 revenues grow 14.5% to US$22.7 billion
4. ^ About KPMG
5. ^ a b c d e KPMG - History
6. ^ Ernst & Young, KPMG merger to create US juggernaut
7. ^ KPMG Consulting becomes Bearing Point
8. ^ >BearingPoint Seeks Bankruptcy Protection
9. ^ French Atos buys two KPMG consulting units
10. ^ Are they off their trollies? New Statesman article
11. ^ FTI Consulting Completes Acquisition of Dispute Advisory Services Business Of KPMG
12. ^ Accounting firms drawn into Madoff scandal
13. ^ Madoff-related class action filed in SDNY against Tremont Group, KPMG, others
14. ^ Handelsregister des Kantons Zug (Registration Number CH-020.6.900.276-5)
15. ^ KPMG: Leadership
16. ^ KPMG Global Services
17. ^ Working Mother
18. ^ 100 Best Companies to work for
19. ^ Extract from Training Magazine
20. ^ College Grad.com
21. ^ Best Places to Launch a Career
22. ^ Best 100 Companies
23. ^ Four day week as work dries up: KPMG offers 11,000 staff dramatic cut in hours to save jobs
24. ^ "Reasons for Selection, 2009 Canada's Top 100 Employers Competition". http://www.eluta.ca/top-employer-kpmg.
25. ^ KPMG agrees to settle Rite Aid suit.
26. ^ KPMG Pays $115 Million to Settle Suit
27. ^ Charge Against KPMG Dropped Carrie Johnson, January 4, 2007, Washington Post
28. ^ Prosecutors end tax-shelter case against KPMG, dropping charge after settlement January 3, 2007, International Herald Tribune
29. ^ KPMG Germany's Failure to Spot Siemens Problems Raises Questions
30. ^ Siemens Supervisory Board Proposes Ernst & Young As Auditors
31. ^ Fannie Sues KPMG for Approving Bad Numbers
32. ^ Report Assails Auditor for Work at Failed Home Lender
33. ^ KPMG and Xerox Settle Securities Lawsuit
34. ^ Mickelson signs agreement with KPMG LLP
35. ^ SEC News Digest, September 23, 1984
36. ^ 'Tis the season to project stats Jonah Keri, February 14, 2007, ESPN

External links

* Official international website
* KPMG in China website
* KPMG in China enewsletter
* KPMG Insiders news service
* Tax Me if You Can - documentary into corporate tax avoidance and its implications including the role of KPMG