Sir William Barclay Peat (15 February 1852 – 24 January 1936) was an accountant and one of the founders of

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

Peat born in Forebank, St Cyrus, Kincardine, Scotland. He was the second son of James Peat and Margaret Barclay (of the banking family that built

Barclays Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services. Barclays traces ...

, one of England's largest banks). Peat studied at

Montrose Academy Montrose Academy is a coeducational secondary school in Montrose Angus. The School now teaches people from ages 11–18. It became a comprehensive school in the mid-fifties and was one of a pair of Scottish schools which formed a country-wide tr ...

in Scotland, and was then apprenticed to a local solicitor but he did not enter the legal profession. Instead, he moved to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

in 1870 and was hired as a junior

accounting clerk Bookkeeping is the recording of financial transactions, and is part of the process of accounting in business and other organizations. It involves preparing source documents for all transactions, operations, and other events of a business. Tr ...

for a London firm, becoming a partner in 1876. Peat became senior partner of the firm, which was renamed William Barclay Peat & Company, in 1891. He was knighted in 1912. The senior partner of the firm was selected from the Peat family for some 75 years. Peat died in 1936.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peat, William Barclay 1852 births 1936 deaths Scottish accountants KPMG people Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order People from Kincardine, Fife