Butler bows out early at KPMG

His departure comes at a difficult time for the profession as its faces the fallout from the Enron fiasco.

Normally the KPMG international chairman holds the post for a period of four years. No reasons have been given for Butler's early departure.Previously, Butler had been in charge of the US practice of the Big Five firm and, despite being one of the fiercest opponents of splitting consultancy work away from the audit firms, was instrumental in hiving off KPMG Consultancy Inc.

Mike Rake, the UK's senior partner, is tipped as a possible successor.