Spinoof of consulting practice tops Butler's KPMG accomplishments

Stephen Butler has decided not to stand for reelection as KPMG chair-ceo, BOWMAN'S reported in a news-breaking Email Alert. Butler delivered his message internally last fall but there was no public announcement. The firm's 15-partner board will place a candidate before partners for ratification, probably

"Spinning off our consulting practice is at the top of my list of accomplishments," Butler tells BOWAMN'S. "It's provided an enormous strategic advantage, recapitalizing the firm and making us very strong financially. We weren't the first to do it (Ernst & Young as first, selling its consulting practice to CapGemini) but it was our idea, and the public offering was much more complicated.

"We have made progress toward globalization," he says. "We have to keep our legal structure because of how accountants are licensed, but we can have a global organization. The keys are a common global management, methodology, infrastructure and economic interest (i.e., profit sharing)."

"I told the board last September that I didn't intend to stand for reelection," Butler says. "I wanted to give them time to make a thoughtful decision." Partners were informed in October. Butler is a member of the board but he wouldn't reveal the names of successor candidates.

KPMG's partnership agreement allows Butler to serve an additional four-year term. "I'll be nearing 56 years old when I step down," he says. "I'll retire soon afterward because I don't want to get in my successor's way. I'll stay as long as my successor can.use my services."

Butler has no idea what will follow his tenure at KPMG. Right now, he says, he's still putting in 16-- hour days, seven days a week.