Accounting, tax and advisory firm KPMG LLP has acquired The Arnold Group LLC, a technology consultancy firm. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
This is technology M&A deal number 10 that ChannelE2E has covered so far in 2023. See more than 2,000 technology M&A deals involving MSPs, MSSPs & IT service providers listed here.
KPMG Acquires The Arnold Group
KPMG, founded in 1987, is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The company has 232,153 employees listed on LinkedIn. KPMG’s areas of expertise include advisory, tax and audit.
The Arnold Group is based in Seattle, Washington. The company has 60 employees listed on LinkedIn. The Arnold Group’s areas of expertise include product strategy, monetization and pricing, customer and partner marketing, sales org/process design, channel strategy and programs, success, service and lifecycle management.
The acquisition enables KPMG to quickly gain critical mass and scale in expanding their technology strategy consulting, the companies said. All Arnold Group team members joined KPMG when the acquisition closed on January 1, 2023.
Carl Carande, vice chair, advisory, KPMG, commented on the news:
"Having The Arnold Group join KPMG is directly aligned with our overall growth strategy and vision for the future, a perfect fit for where our firm is headed. We are now even better positioned to devise and deliver innovative and holistic transformation programs for our clients through our shared breadth of knowledge and expertise in growth-oriented strategy, end-to-end commercialization, and performance transformation. For both the tech industry and those aspiring to grow their tech-oriented business, KPMG can provide an integrated team to support go-to-market strategy, design, and execution uniquely aligned with today's C-suite agenda."
Carl Albrecht, co-founder of The Arnold Group LLC, said:
"This is an exciting opportunity to scale our business for our people, our clients, and the markets we serve. Clients of both The Arnold Group and KPMG will benefit from our collective strengths – highly qualified professionals with unique expertise, increased delivery capacity, and a more comprehensive transformation offering. We look forward to continuing our commitment to service excellence as part of the KPMG team."
Scott Rankin, strategy leader, KPMG, added:
"As companies navigate today's economic uncertainty, it's critical that they invest in the right strategic growth initiatives, alongside their performance improvement efforts. This acquisition allows us to bring the best of both to our clients, leveraging sales and channel strategy, pricing and packaging, and commercial systems, to help them gain market share and outpace their competitors."
Accounting and IT Consulting M&A Activity
Accounting firms continue to branch out from their traditional financial services, opting to offer additional technology consulting, risk mitigation, cybersecurity and managed IT services to their clientele. ChannelE2E maintains an ongoing list of these deals here.
Many of those accounting firms are diversifying into the IT services sector through M&A deals, as Forrester Research Principal Analyst Jay McBain and ChannelE2E have frequently pointed out.
Indeed, certified public accountants (CPAs) are seeking to add financial application, business automation and risk mitigation expertise to their roster of services. Moreover, accounting firms have increasingly pursued predictable monthly recurring revenue (MRR) that MSPs and cloud service providers deliver.
