James Marwick (born 1862 in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, Scotland) was a Scottish American and an original founder of an accounting office that became one of the

Big Four accounting firms The Big Four are the four largest professional services networks in the world, the global accounting networks Deloitte, Ernst & Young (EY), KPMG, and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). The four are often grouped because they are comparable in size re ...

KPMG KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations. Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a net ...

Career

Marwick's father was Sir

James David Marwick Sir James David Marwick FRSE (15 July 1826 – 24 March 1908) was a Scottish lawyer, historian and town clerk. He served as Town Clerk of Glasgow for thirty-one years, during which time the entire city was transformed. Its powers and amenities w ...

, an Orcadian who was Town Clerk of Glasgow from 1873 to 1904. The young Marwick qualified as a chartered accountant, and began his accounting practice in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, and travelled to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

to conduct a bank examination for a group of Scottish investors during the Australian banking crisis in the 1890s. Marwick later travelled from Australia to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and, impressed with business opportunities in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

and cultivating banking clients, he went to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1894 and began looking for a partner. Marwick and Roger Mitchell, schoolmates from the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

, literally ran into each other on a

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

street in 1897. Mitchell had been sent to the United States to run the family textile business. The two set up a practice together in what has been labelled the perfect "front office/back office partnership." After opening Marwick, Mitchell & Company in New York, Marwick began traveling to other cities, opening offices all over the United States. Percy Garrett, who ran the

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

office, once wrote that the tireless Marwick travelled as many as 15,000 miles a year. Marwick retired in 1917, handing the reins to Mitchell, who took over as senior partner and stayed on until 1925 when the firm joined with William Barclay Peat & Co. to form Peat, Marwick & Mitchell. Marwick's legacy continues with the appointment of the James Marwick Professor-in-Residence at KPMG: the role is normally filled by a leading academic.

References

1862 births Year of death missing Scottish businesspeople Scottish accountants Alumni of the University of Glasgow KPMG people {{Scotland-bio-stub