Edward A. Kangas was both a proponent and a prime example of the new breed of accountant as business person at the end of the last century. After joining the Deloitte & Touche predecessor firm Touche Ross as an auditor, Kangas achieved tremendous success as national Management Consulting director, nearly quadrupling the firm's MC business. In 1985, Kangas was named managing partner, and, with J. Michael Cook, helped create Deloitte & Touche. He then became head of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (DTT), responsible for supporting the firm's global clients.

Kangas was not the first to send accountants to work overseas. After all, the firm followed one of its clients to Europe as early as 1901. What was new about his approach was the recognition that modern accountant had to adapt to the shifting world balance of the 1990s and the trend toward globalization. Instead of following clients, accountants had to become the first businesspeople to enter developing economies so that clients could arrive in a new location confident of access to expert local advice. Under Kangas's leadership, DTT provided just such value-added service to a growing roster of clients in the former Soviet Union, China and throughout the world.