Leading audit, tax, and advisory firm KPMG LLP showcased to clients as well as other community and business leaders its enhanced technology capabilities at the grand opening of KPMG Ignition in Atlanta, one of several innovation hubs recently established across the United States and a source of new jobs. 

"We're very proud that our firm chose Atlanta as home to its latest KPMG Ignition center," said Milford McGuirt, KPMG's Atlanta office managing partner. "Our business community can leverage this facility to address organizations' complex business challenges with real-time solutions."

"Atlanta has an optimal mix of characteristics entrepreneurial spirit, an advanced technological ecosystem, and a progressive culture that help our clients drive business transformation across their enterprises," said McGuirt. Inside Ignition, KPMG professionals design and build technology-based mechanisms to improve key aspects our clients' businesses, such as cyber security, data and analytics, employee and customer experience, financial modeling, and complex tax issues.

Spanning an entire floor of One Atlantic Center in Midtown, Ignition in Atlanta boasts 22,000 square feet of work space geared for advanced technologies, close collaboration, and enhanced flexibility. Ignition Atlanta also enhances collaboration with KPMG alliances, such as IBM, Appian, and Oracle. Other KPMG Ignition locations include Denver, Grand Rapids, and New York City, with San Francisco opening next month.

"Our clients count on us to address their business issues with agility and without concern for organizational boundaries. At KPMG Ignition we're doing that," said Lou Trebino, principal at KPMG. "We bring together teams from across the firm in a collaborative, creative environment and deliver innovative solutions to our clients from ideation through implementation."

Midtown employment boost—80 new jobs by end of 2019

Some 80 people already staff Ignition Atlanta. Over the coming year, the firm plans to hire 20 additional people.

"Beyond that, we expect to add another 60 jobs for a total of 160 or so by the end of 2019," said McGuirt. "Our team runs the gamut from automation engineers and mathematicians, to program developers, tax technicians and visual designers," he said. Ignition Atlanta will ultimately accommodate 200 professionals. Overall, KPMG employs 1,300 people in the Atlanta market.

Junior Achievement partnership

Also speaking at the grand opening was Junior Achievement of Georgia's CEO, Jack Harris. KPMG has long supported JA locally, regionally, and nationally. A recent breakthrough model for high school education, JA Academy, inspired KPMG to provide additional financial support to JA at the event. JA of Georgia launched the Academy at Fulton County's Banneker High School in August 2015.

"Banneker is a JA proving ground to redefine high school education," said McGuirt. "A lot of what JA is working to accomplish there aligns with KPMG's values, including innovative thinking fueled by a disciplined approach."

JA Academy uses a school-within-a-school model to fuel transformation from the inside out," said Harris. "JA Academy creates a vehicle for the business community to integrate its expertise and experience to help make student learning more relevant and authentically connected to life beyond the classroom walls."

First-year results at Banneker included big gains in engagement and academic outcomes. Compared with their peers, JA Academy students cut chronic absenteeism by 75 percent and dramatically improved performance on 9th-grade Georgia Milestones Assessments.