Queen keeps faith with KPMG
KPMG has retained its grip on the royal purse strings with the announcement that Alan Reid, the firm's chief operating officer, will become the Queen's accountant.
Reid, who at KPMG is used to grappling with a £1.4bn turnover, will take over from the current keeper of the privy purse, Sir Michael Peat, who is leaving Buckingham Palace to become Prince Charles’ private secretary.
Sir Michael, whose great grandfather was one of the founders of Peat Marwick, now KPMG, was also a partner at the firm before becoming the Queen’s full-time accountant, and can claim, among many successes, a £3m reduction of the household’s electricity bill.
The £300,000 a year job will require Reid, 55, to manage the ‘diverse’ financial affairs of the Royal Household and run a department consisting of ‘considerable’ funds.
Speculation over Sir Michael’s successor had been rife, and included Gerry Acher, former London senior partner at KPMG, and now honorary treasurer for the Queen’s golden jubilee celebrations which, on Monday, saw the unveiling of a new portrait of the Queen by artist Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy.