KPMG Consulting, a breakaway company from KPMG, which was formed last February, has announced an initial public offering. The company plans to offer 324 million shares of stock, which are expected to sell for between $6.75 and $8.75 per share.

The consulting company will receive proceeds from about 89 million shares (valued at over $660 million), while KPMG and its partners will receive the proceeds from about 235 million shares (valued at approximately $2.5 billion). Within five years the KPMG partners are expected to have completely divested themselves of stock ownership in the new company and will not hold any positions on the consulting company’s board of directors.

KPMG Consulting was formed primarily to assist companies with Internet strategies.

The announcement comes at a time when the Securities & Exchange Commission is looking closely at the consulting services performed by accounting firms and analyzing the potential conflict between these services and auditing services performed for the same clients.

KPMG has been publicly outspoken about its reluctance to support SEC regulations to limit consulting services performed by audit firms. However, the firm contends that the separation of its own consulting services is not a direct result of the potential SEC regulations.