What happens when a world renowned accounting firm decides to market tax shelters to its elite clientele? The first thing that happens is that the client buys them because of the source. In this case the source is utterly reliable; KPMG is one of the oldest and biggest Public Accounting firms in the world. They number among their clients over 100 of the Fortune 500 companies. This includes General Electric with a $100 million per year in fees. Internationally, KPMG is just as big and powerful, with over 1600 partners. When the firm sneezes, the industry notices.
Somebody else was noticing too
They came to the conclusion that they could make a fortune by selling tax shelters to their client listing, and they were right. Clients leaped at the opportunity to take 3 to 1 and better write-offs from the schemes that KPMG came up with. The fees generated were mind-boggling, far more profitable than any other aspect to the accounting business. After all, once you put a tax deal together, your costs were fixed. If you could amortize the cost of a deal over more clients, there was that much more to be made for the firm.
The clients naturally assumed the deals were...