KPMG appoints a partner with a difference

news that accountancy firm KPMG has appointed a new partner is fairly run-of-the-mill stuff.

But the elevation of Euan West is slightly different in that he is not and has never been an accountant.

His appointment reveals much about the changing way that professional services firms generate business.

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Mr West, 37, was made partner last weekend after nearly a decade with the firm in various business development roles.

He joined the Leeds office in 2002 after seven years spent headhunting finance directors for Northern corporates.

KPMG needed to develop new revenue streams to adjust to new industry-wide regulations brought in after the collapse of Arthur Andersen, and it turned to Mr West who became one of 16 business development managers in the UK.

“My remit was leveraging that network I came with and to make introductions to the firm and look to grow our business,” he said.

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Mr West said that the old world model of Big Four firms was to leverage existing relationships rather than try to grow new ones.

“The way we did that was to move from the product-led approach to the market place to an issue-led approach,” he added.

“Our challenge is to understand issues and challenges our clients are facing and align ourselves appropriately.”

Part of the role involves corporate hospitality, and he will be a familiar face in the Yorkshire business world, although he said that the nature of entertaining has changed as executives are more pushed for time and increasingly selective about what they attend.

“They often want us to leverage our relationships for their benefit,” added a spokeswoman.

Mr West is one of three non-accountants in a UK partnership of 576 and the only one outside London.