KPMG has recruited 18 staff in Glasgow and is in the market to add to its senior ranks with new partners in Scotland after launching a division aimed at winning clients among small to medium-sized enterprises.
The "big four" accountancy firm has invested £40 million to launch a new package of services for smaller private companies around the UK.
KPMG Enterprise, which will be run from the firm's tax centre of excellence in Glasgow, will include a new small business accounting service. It will allow small firms and start-ups to access services such as how to prepare accounts, book-keeping, payroll, VAT and corporate tax returns online.
While most of the work will be handled on the internet, clients will be able to interact with the accounting team in Glasgow, with fees starting at £150 per month.
Phil Charles, head of enterprise for KPMG in Scotland, said the SME focus marks a new approach for a firm which has traditionally focused on the top end of the private company sector.
And he said it has been made possible thanks to technology, which allows the firm to offer services online at competitive rates which still allow it to make money.
Noting that the move has arguably opened its target client base from 300 to 343,000 companies, Mr Charles said: "I can remember the day when we looked after [smaller] clients and kept their books and historically we couldn't make money out of that.
"The introduction of cloud accounting and the ability to efficiently look after these clients on the internet and deliver a fantastic service means we can actually do that at a competitive price and still make money out of it ourselves.
"It is technology that has driven us to the change."
Mr Charles said the new focus will allow KPMG to "identify the stars of the future" among Scotland's SME and start-up scene, noting that the rapid growth of firms like online fashion retailer ASOS means "more than ever it is important to try to catch them early".
He said: "It's fantastic for us to pick up these smaller businesses and help them achieve their end objectives, be that listing in terms of a flotation, or a sale.
"Historically we have tried to pick them up once they have gone through some of that cycle, once they are beyond an SME."
The new service comes as research commissioned by the "big four" accountant reveals 71 per cent of SMEs in Scotland believe the government should do more to support small businesses.
Mr Charles said government policy falls outside his area of expertise, but noted that the survey bears out concern among SMEs that red tape continues to impede their growth aspirations.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article