Owners' Manual
This Owners' Manual serves as a simple handbook for any investors interested in KPG. We are unashamedly looking for quality shareholders and seek to treat our shareholders as partners in our business.
Contents
- 1 Values Mission, values, vision
- 2 Shareholder Partnership Principles Ten principles and the quality shareholder
- 3 The Business Case Megatrends, the market, the model, structure, partnership criteria
- 4 Moat Building The flywheel and the client value proposition
- 5 Founder Founder-led companies and the founder's shareholding
- 6 Reading The shareholder reading list
- 7 Checklists Owners' principles, The Map, Founder's Mentality, The Outsiders, Fisher, Buffett, 100 Baggers
Editions
| Published | Edition |
|---|---|
| 24 August 2026 | KPG Owners' Manual V 5.0 |
| 3 October 2024 | KPG Owners' Manual V 4.0 |
| 18 April 2024 | KPG Owners' Manual V 3.0 |
| 30 June 2022 | KPG Owners' Manual V 2.0 |
| 25 November 2020 | KPG Owners' Manual V 1.0 |
Who we are looking for
We are looking for shareholders who buy large stakes and hold for long periods.
| Lower conviction | Higher conviction | |
|---|---|---|
| Shorter horizon | Transients | Activists |
| Longer horizon | Indexers | Quality |
After Lawrence Cunningham, Quality Shareholders: How the Best Managers Attract and Keep Them.
Shareholders' Principles
Ten principles, from Section 2 of the manual.
- 1
Our attitude is partnership in everything we do.
- 2
Our Founder and Partner-Owner-Drivers® have the majority of their net worth invested in the business.
- 3
Our long-term goal is to maximise KPG's intrinsic value on a per share basis.
- 4
Our intention is to grow by continuing to acquire accounting firms ($2m to $10m revenue) using our proprietary Partner-Owner-Driver® model, in a programmatic manner that applies a robust M&A operating model for doing many small deals.
- 5
We will make decisions to maximise KPG's intrinsic value, even when such decisions may result in unfavourable treatments under current accounting standards.
- 6
We use debt prudently and structure our loans to be aggressively repaid by isolating risk to the immediate businesses.
- 7
We measure our performance using Earnings Per Share (EPS) growth and Owner Earnings.
- 8
We intend to seldom, if ever, issue shares to acquire a business.
- 9
It is not our intention to sell a business that we have acquired. We consider ourselves Perpetual Owners.
- 10
We will be completely transparent in our reporting to our shareholders, treating them as genuine partners in our business. We will call a spade a spade rather than under-emphasise difficult situations.
‘Warren Buffett has tried to attract only what he calls "high quality" shareholders. These are defined as shareholders who buy large stakes and hold for long periods.’
The founder's shareholding
- 1
Brett Kelly is the founder and CEO of KPG.
- 2
Brett's equity was earned. He built the business from its infancy and carried risks the Group itself could not.
- 3
Brett has never been gifted a share and has never taken part in any incentive scheme. Every share he holds, he paid for or built.
- 4
Brett's economic interest has reduced as he has sold shares to fund the growth of the Group and to bring in long-term shareholders. That is not the same as reducing control.
- 5
Being the founder of a public company carries real costs. Brett does not target a fixed number of shares or a fixed percentage. He targets control, and the freedom to run the business for the long term.
| Event | Shares held | Interest |
|---|---|---|
| IPO, 2017 | 23,253,378 | 51.28% |
| FY2020 | 23,400,000 | 51.54% |
| FY2023 | 22,412,266 | 49.81% |
| FY2025 | 21,086,704 | 46.57% |
| FY2026 | 14,178,118 | 31.32% |
| Current | 31.7% |
Includes indirect holdings in related entities. FY2026 as at 24 August 2026; current interest as confirmed by the founder, September 2026. Full history in the Owners' Manual, Section 5.