KPMG investing £40 million in cloud accounting.

KPMG’s Enterprise Programme is investing £40 million to grow cloud accounting services for SMEs. This is a strong move by one of the world’s leading accountancy brands to take on mid level firms currently servicing that sector. Online apps and services offer a way for KPMG to penetrate this market and offer their premium brand to more customers. The sheer size of the investment is also the result of identifying where their customer and competition will come from in the future. Their belief is that competition will come not just from accountancy firms, but ultimately data companies like Google.

“The reason I say that is because today, our profession is all about data. The more data you have, the more powerful you are. With big data you can create more-effective KPIs, better benchmarking, and more accurate insights. That’s the secret. That’s what the future holds.”

Iain Moffat – Head of Enterprise – KPMG

This investment signifies that one of the world’s largest accountancy firms is adaptable. They’re adapting to who their potential customers are and how they will utilise traditional accountancy services in the near future. Even more impressive is the fact that an organisation the size of KPMG can recognise that their role is ultimately that of a data company. They are willing to reinterpret their position as managers of client data for a multitude of purposes beyond accountancy focussed products.

Read Iain Moffat’s full interview titled KPMG: Why every accountancy firm should worry about Google here.