Despite the fact that K is the first letter in our company abbreviation, Pieter Klynveld was the third of KPMG’s four founding fathers to be born, in Amsterdam in 1874.

In 1917 he opened a small accountancy practice in Amsterdam. He was known for his personal touch and for his easy delegation and good networking. He also loved music and art, but not more than his work and his practice. The Amsterdam of his day was full of entrepreneurial spirit, and Pieter shared in this. Businessmen then traded with foreigners – such as royalty, governments and even the Bank of England – on the stock exchange and abroad, so their needs changed rapidly, and Klynveld was able to adapt to those needs. He hired bright accountants who were able to serve ambitious companies. One of these was Jaap Kraayenhof who soon became a senior partner of the Dutch firm, then renamed Klynveld Kraayenhof & Co. (KKC).

Klynveld died in 1946, leaving behind the largest accounting firm in the Netherlands. It was to be another 33 years before KKC merged with DTG (the G stands for Goerdeler, whose story will be coming in the next issue of K-Weekly) and several other large firms to form KMG in 1979

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