KPMG invest $250,000 in Concordia business education

A new gift will have a big impact. KPMG, one of the world’s largest professional services firms, has donated $250,000 to Concordia’s John Molson School of Business (JMSB). The gift supports scholarships and the development of a report on entrepreneurial activity in Quebec.

A $20,000 award and a $5,000 one will, respectively, be granted to a PhD and MSc student each year. Announced on March 29, 2017, the renewable support is open to Canadian citizens, permanent residents and international students. It’s granted on the basis of academic merit.

A second aspect is the Annual KPMG-JMSB Entrepreneurial Indices Report, which will receive $25,000 annually in funding. The intellectually compelling document will summarize activity related to the private enterprise market in Quebec. Findings will be shared with small businesses and policy makers.

“KPMG is committed to improve business studies in Quebec,” says Michael Baratta, partner and consumer markets lead for Quebec at KPMG. “To be effective, however, we need to not only share our expertise and knowledge, but our financial involvement has to be significant and long term. With this new endowment, this is precisely what we will achieve.”

“KPMG has a history of giving to our university,” says Concordia President Alan Shepard. “We appreciate their contribution to our momentum and position as Canada’s next-generation university through innovative research and teaching.”

Bram Freedman, Concordia’s vice-president of Advancement and External Relations, views the donation as a means to illuminate understanding in the area.

“This further affirms KPMG’s commitment to causes that include education. Our graduate students — and especially PhD ones — have robust projects that enhance knowledge in their field,” says Freedman. “The report this gift supports will be an asset. Small and medium-sized businesses don’t necessarily have the resources to create something of this calibre.”

“We’re among the best in international ratings. Private support helps us keep our edge and give students the benefit of focusing on what matters — their studies,” says Stéphane Brutus, interim dean of JMSB. “One of our strategic directions is ‘go beyond.’ There is an aspect of that with the indices report, which draws on real-world data and puts the results into public circulation.”