Background summary
The firm can be traced back to 1865, where it first began under the name Walter Howard. In 1988, the name Baker Tilly was created through the merger between Howard Tilly and Baker Rooke.
The firm subsequently officially changed its name on 26 October 2015, and adopted the name RSM which derives from its original founders, Robson Rhodes, a UK firm, Salustro Reydel, a French firm and Ira B. McGladrey, from the US. The name saw the merging of the three accountancy groups uniting under one entity.
The firm ‘s UK division is run by Kevin O’Connor, executive chairman, who took up the role in April 2020, when he was appointed to the board. Alongside him is Rob Donaldson, CEO, who was also appointed to the team in April 2020.
The firm currently offers a variety of services which includes:
Audit and assurance – Under this service, the firm provides a detailed, flexible and “value-for-money” service charge for companies large and small.
Business consulting services – Within this service, RSM aims to help customers improve projects, programmes and business transformation, select and implement the most appropriate digital technologies, better manage financial reporting and evaluate the impact of publicly funded policies programmes and organisations.
Legal Services – The firm offers three different types of legal services, one of them being corporate, which focus on group reorganisations, simplifications, debt legal structuring design and implementation. Employment legal services offers contracting delivery, people obligations structuring and employment claims dispute resolution. Employee share schemes legal services offer outsourced business advice.
Restructuring advisory – Within this service it helps businesses develop an effective turnaround strategy, manage risk by simplifying corporate structures, review defined benefit pension covenant strength; monitor emerging financial risks, preserve value on distressed real estate projects and help to secure an appropriate funding solution.
Risk advisory – The firm offers robust, reliable assurance and advisory services spanning internal audit, technology risk, financial services compliance and international development funding.
Tax – RSM looks after the interests of corporate entities at every stage of their life-cycle from start-ups, expansion and investment, acquisitions and disposals, raising finance/capital markets; and succession planning.
Financials
In its latest trading update for the year ended 31 March 2023, the group reported revenues of £486.3m which increased by 13% compared to FY22.
The accountancy firm employs around 4,700 people in the UK, 356 of which are partners. Throughout the year, revenue per partner amounted to £1.3m.
Recent Coverage
Recently, RSM UK has welcomed Rob Bayliss as a financial modelling partner in its consulting deal services team, leveraging his 20 years of experience to assist business owners, funders, and management teams in making informed decisions, particularly in investments and transactions, following his tenure at Grant Thornton where he spearheaded the firm’s financial modelling service line.
The firm also has recently expanded its presence in Cambridge with a newly refurbished and larger office, reflecting its commitment to serving the city’s fast-growing middle market businesses and enhancing its advisory expertise in the region.
At the beginning of May, RSM UK has appointed Lynsey Cooper as a partner to lead and expand the firm’s corporate tax services in the South, leveraging her 20 years of experience gained in Big Four firms to provide clear and practical tax advice to clients across various industries.
In the same month, the firm has appointed Alex Tait as its new national head of risk and governance, with a mandate to double the size and scope of its risk and governance business within three years, reflecting the firm’s commitment to strengthening its consulting advisory solutions, particularly for non-for-profit organisations.
In April, RSM UK appointed Stuart Clowser as its new head of private equity, where he will lead the firm’s cross-discipline private equity team and build on its success supporting the private equity market, succeeding Charlie Jolly, who joins the consulting leadership team.
