KPMG To Apply McLaren F1 Team’s Predictive Analytics To Clients In New Alliance

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McLaren Group signed an alliance with KPMG "to apply the same predictive analytics and technology it does to its Formula One team to KPMG’s audit and consulting clients," according to Harriet Agnew of the Financial Times.

McLaren "signed a 10-year deal with the Big Four professional services company, which is the second-largest auditor to FTSE 100 companies including Unilever, Diageo and Standard Chartered." Through the alliance, KPMG "will be able to introduce an audit model that is forward looking and predictive, based on multiple sets of data." It "will move away from the current auditing model which has drawn criticism for being largely retrospective and subjective."

KPMG "will also sponsor McLaren’s F1 team as part of the deal." Just as McLaren’s F1 data analytics runs scenarios around weather, pit stops and wheel changes, "in applying the technology to KPMG’s auditing clients it will be able to run live scenarios around how changes in a company’s cash flow, interest rates or marketing spend will affect its revenue."

Specific scenarios "might include how China’s crackdown on corporate entertaining and gift-giving is likely to hit the sales of luxury companies, or how a spot of sunny weather could impact a beer producer. This information could then feed through to a company’s supply chain."

The idea "is to make the audit predictive rather than reactive, so that companies can anticipate issues before they become an impairment."
For McLaren, KPMG "will bring scale and distribution for its technology and access to its clients."

The alliance "is the latest step for McLaren in seeking to position itself as a technology company with an F1 team, rather than an F1 team that develops technology." McLaren Group Chair & CEO Ron Dennis said, “I want McLaren to be perceived as a tech brand that has a tech demonstrator called a Grand Prix team." Financial Times