Sir William Peat was born in 1852 in Scotland. He was not the first son of his father. Instead, he was the second son. But his growth was not affected by the existence of his elder brother. He adopted his own path to live in the world instead of always following his brother.

William Peat studied Law because his family was a noble one. But he did not enter the profession of legal. Instead, he went to London to look for fortune. At that time, he was only 17 years old. He was hired by a firm in London as the junior accounting clerk. He was clever and hard-working so he soon gained support from the firm and became the partner of the firm when he was just 24 years old.

What they are famous for

The journey of William Peat did not end when he became the partner of the firm. Instead of being just a partner, he tried to gain the leadership of the whole firm. In 1891, he succeeded in doing so and he renamed the firm to William Barclay Peat & Company. With this, he started his legacy in accounting.

Some years later, an accounting office from America wanted to cooperate with William Peat. Therefore, William Peat grabbed this opportunity to expand the business scope. He remained his work in London and tried to cooperate with the US partner when there was a need. They were the co-founders of the KPMG firm nowadays.

According to some of the senior KPMG staff, the Peat family always ‘kept the partnership going by requiring that the Peat family should have senior partner positions for at least 3 generations’. This is also the fact. Three of the six of Peat’s sons became the partners of the firm and there is also grandson working for KPMG nowadays.

How they affected the world today

As mentioned above, William Peat set the good foundation for KPMG and his family. There are always the spirit of William Peat in KPMG firm from past to now because of the existence of the family member in the firm. The partner and senior partners of the firm always treasure the opportunities to listen and to work with the William Peat sons and grandsons because they could learn more from the legacy and build a professional look of accountants.

William Peat lived a very good life. He had no regret in the work he had done and the achievement he had made. Although he came from a noble family, he did not follow everything there. Instead, he tried to find his own way to live in the world. It was one of the important messages that people could learn from him in the world nowadays.

To conclude, William Peat was an inspiring leader in the accounting field and his efforts paid for accountancy would always be remembered. He gained huge success in his work but he did not look down upon the others. The humble William Peat is always an example for others to learn from.