KPMG Leverages Alteryx to Digitally Transform Outcomes for Clients

Using data and analytics to enable an agile culture

As one of the “Big Four” accounting firms, KPMG has been a staple in delivering results for clients over the past 130 years. KPMG firms operate in 146 countries and territories, serving the needs of business, governments, public-sector agencies, not-for-profits and through KPMG firms’ audit and assurance practices, the capital markets.

“KPMG is unique because of our breadth and depth of the services and solutions that we provide to our clients,” says Daniel Basca, a Partnership Transaction Group partner in KPMG’s Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) North America tax practice.

Consistency and collaboration are a leading driver of growth at KPMG. The focus lies on streamlining processes, optimizing compliance, and helping organizations transform their functions for the future. It’s part of KPMG’s Tax Reimagined initiative which aims to help tax leaders embrace disruption, seize new opportunities and drive greater value. KPMG has implemented a firm-wide commitment to a technology-first holistic approach to help its clients redefine their approach to tax. To ensure this culture of agility, it was necessary to change the way people work and interact daily through an investment in data and analytics platforms.

Integrating automation to enable speed and efficiency

“We needed to eliminate human error and automate our processes of entering and accessing data and performing quantitative analysis,” says Phillip Desalvo, Partnership Transaction Group M&A Tax Principal at KPMG. “In some instances, it took 30 minutes for Excel to re-calculate a detailed, formulaically complicated workbook, and overall, we just needed something that could give us better transparency in our data.”

“When we discovered Alteryx, the main thing that stuck out was the speed at which calculations were performed, and the reduced risk of human error,” says Kevin Casady, Partnership Transaction Group Managing Director in M&A Tax at KPMG. “Because we work with such large volumes of data, it is easier to ensure that user errors are eliminated in the underlying computations.

“We’ve fully automated our process of entering and accessing client data, making it easier for our teams to dedicate their time to gaining insights from the data.”

—Kevin Casady, Partnership Transaction Group Managing Director in M&A Tax at KPMG

Increased speed to insight for improved client satisfaction

“Now that we’re able to accelerate our ability to analyze data and increase our speed to finding answers to our client’s questions, our clients have expressed excitement and happiness with our solution, and they haven’t seen anything like it,” says Casady. “We’re able to take on more client needs at once and accomplish more tasks with greater efficiency. We’re helping clients gain access to actionable data that drives insights, giving them more than just an answer to their questions. Alteryx enables us to really go under the hood to understand the calculations that drive our clients’ bottom lines.”

“I believe with Alteryx we’ve gained a real competitive advantage, in comparison to legacy software solutions. I also believe it’s given us a better work-life balance. We can more quickly serve our clients’ needs which allows us to wrap up our work quicker and spend more time with our families.” says Basca.

Striking a chord with customers through data

What’s next for KPMG? The team says that other groups within the firm will look to leverage the group’s resources so that they can gain advantages in working with clients. “I envision that other tax groups within KPMG will see what we’re doing with Alteryx and try to learn more about it so that they can take advantage of it for themselves,” says Casady.