Accountant Town

Friday, May 1, 2020

Frederick Whinney

Frederick Whinney
Biography

Contributed a lot to the development of accounting firms

Frederick Whinney was born in England and he was the British accountant. Although people could hardly find his name in the accounting field nowadays, he contributed a lot to the development of accounting firms in the years when he was alive.

What they are famous for

Frederick Whinney was famous for being the partner of the firm called Harding & Pullein. In 1859, he became the partner and he played an important role in the firm gradually. In 1894, he renamed the business with his sons as the Whinney Smith & Whinney.

In 1924, there was a storm in the accounting field. There were more and more accounting firms in the market and there are competitions worldwide. Therefore, Frederick Whinney decided to cooperate with some other accounting firms in order to increase the market share of the firm. Therefore, it accepted the invitation from Ernst and formed some partnership with other. Ernst was an American accounting firm at that time so it helped Frederick Whinney to have an accounting firm growing in both the UK and the US. At that time, the Ernst & Whinney firm formed was the fourth largest accounting firm at that period.

How they affected the world today

In 1898, Ernst & Whinney finally merged with Arthur Young and this created the large firm called Ernst & Young. Since the name of Frederick Whinney did not appear in the name of the new firm, people could hardly recognize the efforts that Frederick Whinney had contributed to the development of the firm.

However, Frederick Whinney actually did a lot of things to make the company reputable and the solid foundation of Ernst & Whinney was contributed partly by Frederick Whinney. At the beginning of the merger of Ernst and Whinney, there were a lot of obstacles. It was difficult to manage a cross-national firm so Frederick Whinney and his partner Ernst tried their best to communicate with each other and to ensure the quality and standards of the accountancy projects. They cooperated to make sure that the brand reputation of the firm was good in both countries. In order to achieve this, Frederick Whinney devoted a lot of his time to travel to and from the regional offices and to communicate through letters. At that time, communication was not convenient compared to the current context so Frederick Whinney did paid a lot of efforts in gatekeeping the quality of work performed by the firm.

This type of insistence of audit quality affected the whole company throughout the years. After the merger with Arthur Young, the principles of Ernst & Whinney still remained instilled in the staff of the company. Being detail-oriented and professionally skeptical becomes an important motto of the company staff. This also influences other accounting firms and this is the reason why professional skepticism is an important jargon in the auditing field nowadays.

In conclusion, Frederick Whinney helped the current Ernst & Young to build a good base such that it can achieve so much nowadays.

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Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Edwin Waterhouse

Edwin Waterhouse
Biography

Became the President of Institute of Chartered Accountants

Edwin Waterhouse was born in 1841. He was an English accountant born in Oakfield of Liverpool. He was the son of a wealthy family and his brothers were famous in many fields. For example, his brothers were good architects in the country back then and some of them were the good designers in London. But Edwin Waterhouse chose a different way compared with their brothers.

Edwin Waterhouse received education from University College School and he studied in the University College London later. He founded the Price Waterhouse with his business partner Samuel Price.

What they are famous for

As mentioned above, Edwin Waterhouse was famous for establishment the Price Waterhouse accounting firm. But he achieve more than this. He was also the president of Institute of Chartered Accountants from 1892 to 1894. Although his term was not long, he helped the Institute to consolidate the accounting practice and this helped the accountants in the UK to perform audit work in a standardized way.

The original establishment of Price Waterhouse was not an easy thing. At that time, there was limited knowledge about the role of accounting firms in the business world. There were accountants, but the accountants did not know exactly the services that they should or should not provide for clients. Therefore, the positioning of Price Waterhouse at that time changed in the first few years of operations. Finally, it determined to provide the comprehensive sets of accounting and advisory services for clients, which are also the major business lines of the company in the current world.

How they affected the world today

Nowadays, Price Waterhouse has evolved and become the PricewaterhouseCoopers company in the current decade. It has become one of the big four accounting firms in the world. The scale of business of this firm is beyond the imagination of Edwin Waterhouse back then.

The success of PwC nowadays cannot be separated from the foundation laid by Edwin Waterhouse. Together with Samuel Price at that time, Edwin Waterhouse tried to create a long term development plan for the firm.

When he was the president of Institute of Chartered Accountants, Edwin Waterhouse tried to provide different opportunities for accountants to learn and grow. Instead of the examinations, he tried to organize different learning opportunities for accountants and promoted the culture and knowledge exchange between different levels of accountants. This became the good learning model that many accounting firms would adopt nowadays.

Edwin Waterhouse demonstrated to the world that a person can live their own professional path. Although he was born from a well-off family, he had his own thinking and belief and he followed his own path in the career development. But at the same time, he maintained a good relationship with his family. In other words, he was successful in convincing his family about his career goals instead of sacrificing the relationship with his family for the career development.

In conclusion, Edwin Waterhouse was a successful man and he provided the guide for an accounting firm to grow from a regional firm to an international firm now.

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Saturday, April 25, 2020

George Touche

George Touche
Biography

In 1899, he established his own firm in accounting field. The firm was called George Touch & Co.

George Touche was born in Edinburgh. He was the son of a banker so he has a close connection to the business world since he grew up. He studied in the Edinburgh Institute and the University of Edinburgh later. Then, he became the chartered accountants in 1878.

What they are famous for

George Touche did not start his career as the accountant right after his graduation. Instead, he was appointed as the secretary and director of many companies gradually. It was partly attributed to his family reputation at that time.

In 1899, he established his own firm in accounting field. The firm was called George Touch & Co. When he worked in this company, he tried to relax the work of an accountant. Instead of urging his staff to work a lot to achieve the result, he would emphasize the importance of being people-oriented in management. He would not try to make the staff work too hard. Instead, he would give his staff time to take a break and stop a bit when they were too frustrated.

Apart from being a famous accountant, George Touche was also a politician. This was a bit different from the traditional image of an accountant. George Touche was elected as the Conservative Member of Parliament in the North Islington and he was knighted in 1917.

How they affected the world today

As mentioned above, George Touche introduced a new way of management to the accounting firm. Later, when the firm was integrated or merged with other accounting firms, the business management practice of George Touche was still kept. In other words, the later Deloitte firm evolved from Touche was also more people-oriented than result-oriented. No doubt, staff had to work very hard from time to time in order to achieve the result. However, they would be given time to take a rest and to think more from their personal goals instead of only working on the auditing or accounting papers. This was an important practice which helped many of the accountants to control their emotion and work-life balance well.

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu was an important accounting firm in the world nowadays. It is regarded as one of the important big four accounting firms in the current world. Part of the foundations of this firm comes from the office established by George Touche. The firm of George Touche mainly handled the tax work at that time and this helped the partnership of Deloitte Touche grow very well because the income tax projects were not handled by many accountants at that time. In other words, the market share of George Touche firm in the tax field was large and this helped the whole partnership to grow.

In conclusion, George Touche was an important person in establishing Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. Although it could not see the result achieves by the firm nowadays, his great work done in the initial establishment of the firm and the management of staff there helped the firm to achieve its results nowadays.

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Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Elijah Sells

Elijah Sells
Biography

Worked in the company called Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Railroad. He was smart and he was quickly promoted.

Elijah Sells was born in 1858 in Muscatine. He studied in the public schools and he attended the Baker University briefly. Although he did not obtain a degree from the University, the Baker University awarded him with the honorary degree. When he was just 16 years old, Elijah Sells worked in the company called Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Railroad. He was smart and he was quickly promoted.

What they are famous for

After several years of hard work in the railroads projects, Elijah Sells was promoted to be the Dockery Commission. There, he met his friend and future business partner, Haskins.

Elijah Sells and Haskins later formed the Haskins & Sells firm. This firm became the famous accounting firm among all American firms. In that period of time, most of the accounting firms were the UK firms. But Elijah Sells formed the good firm with American culture and American people.

In 1896, Elijah Sells became one of the few New York certified public accountants there. After the death of Haskin in 1903, Elijah Sells took a larger role in the firm as the senior partner. The great work done by Elijah Sells formed the important base for the firm to become part of Deloitte in the later time.

How they affected the world today

Elijah Sells received the outstanding award from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. This award was one of the important things that Certified Public Accountants would like to obtain. It is because the award was only given to the one who scored the highest in the examinations. Since Elijah Sells was a successful accountant in the US back then, the award was recognized as a reputable thing because this famous accountant also got that award. This indirectly helped the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants to be the famous accounting institutes.

Pursue of quality accounting work is one of the influences that this person put to us. Accountants usually face dilemma when they handle some of the accounting projects. But Elijah Sells provided clear guidelines for people to follow in his own accounting firm. Later, when the firm grows to be part of the Deloitte & Touche, those principles and guidelines helped the Deloitte staff to understand more about the role of accountants in the business world as well as the good case practices that people should follow in the accounting world. This was a simple but important move that Elijah Sells has tried and this provided the accounting world with a reliable and strong firm nowadays, which is DTT firm.

In conclusion, Elijah Sells was an important accountant in the history of American accountancy. He was one of the leaders in guiding American accountants to the better future. Since then, the world was no longer dominated by the accountants from the England. More and more people found that the US accountants were also reliable and they provided more and more opportunities for the US accountants to excel in the world so Elijah Sells contributed a lot to us.

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Saturday, April 18, 2020

Samuel Price

Samuel Price
Biography

He was the important accountant in England because he contributed a lot to the development of a famous global accounting firm nowadays.

Samuel Price was born in 1821. He was the important accountant in England because he contributed a lot to the development of a famous global accounting firm nowadays.

Samuel Price came from Bristol. He was the son of a stone potter locally. He did not give up his study.

After his study, he entered a local firm called Bradley, Bernard & Co. as the junior accounting staff. In 1848, he formed partnership with William Edwards. However, the partnership was a very short one because the partnership dissolved in 1849.

After the failure in forming that partnership, Samuel Price decided to run his own accounting office. In the following decade, the firm was led by Samuel Price and the firm grew in a stable rate.

What they are famous for

In 1865, he received offer from other people to form partnership again. This time, there were two men called Holyland and Waterhouse who made the offer. At that time, Samuel Price decided to spend more time on the Institute of Accountants instead of operating the accounting firm so he accepted the partnership offer. He left the office work for his partners and he devoted a lot of time to the Institute of Accountants in his country.

In 1880, the England & Wales Institute of Chartered Accountants was formed. The institute was important in the development of accounting industry in England.

How they affected the world today

The establishment of the Institute mentioned above was one of the influential achievements that Samuel Price had made for the world nowadays. He tried to codify the practice of accountants in the UK and this helped the UK accounting firms to gain international respect and reputation. Therefore, Samuel Price could be regarded as one of the most important gatekeepers of the accounting standards in the UK back then.

Of course, another important achievement that Samuel Price had made to the world was his accounting office. Holyland later quitted the partnership and Price and Waterhouse were left. They continued to build the firm and gained significant reputation in the accounting industry. The office of Price Waterhouse was expanded to New York from the UK in 1890, three years after the death of Samuel Price.

Although Samuel Price did not witness the firm’s expansion to other parts of the world, his work was the important key for such an expansion. The prudence elements injected by Samuel Price and Waterhouse helped them firm to keep the reputation over the hundred years of operation and this helped the whole firm to become the largest accounting firm in the current world. The integration with the Cooper firm helps the firm to become PricewaterhouseCoopers in the current world.

In conclusion, Samuel Price was an important man who guided the English accountants to build the professional image. The formation of his accounting office helped the accounting industry to have a reliable accounting firm. Without his efforts in accounting standards safeguard, it could be hard for accountants to gain support from clients nowadays.

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Wednesday, April 15, 2020

William Peat

William Peat
Biography

Clever and hard-working so he soon gained support from the firm and became the partner of the firm when he was just 24 years old.

Sir William Peat was born in 1852 in Scotland. He was not the first son of his father. Instead, he was the second son. But his growth was not affected by the existence of his elder brother. He adopted his own path to live in the world instead of always following his brother.

William Peat studied Law because his family was a noble one. But he did not enter the profession of legal. Instead, he went to London to look for fortune. At that time, he was only 17 years old. He was hired by a firm in London as the junior accounting clerk. He was clever and hard-working so he soon gained support from the firm and became the partner of the firm when he was just 24 years old.

What they are famous for

The journey of William Peat did not end when he became the partner of the firm. Instead of being just a partner, he tried to gain the leadership of the whole firm. In 1891, he succeeded in doing so and he renamed the firm to William Barclay Peat & Company. With this, he started his legacy in accounting.

Some years later, an accounting office from America wanted to cooperate with William Peat. Therefore, William Peat grabbed this opportunity to expand the business scope. He remained his work in London and tried to cooperate with the US partner when there was a need. They were the co-founders of the KPMG firm nowadays.

According to some of the senior KPMG staff, the Peat family always ‘kept the partnership going by requiring that the Peat family should have senior partner positions for at least 3 generations’. This is also the fact. Three of the six of Peat’s sons became the partners of the firm and there is also grandson working for KPMG nowadays.

How they affected the world today

As mentioned above, William Peat set the good foundation for KPMG and his family. There are always the spirit of William Peat in KPMG firm from past to now because of the existence of the family member in the firm. The partner and senior partners of the firm always treasure the opportunities to listen and to work with the William Peat sons and grandsons because they could learn more from the legacy and build a professional look of accountants.

William Peat lived a very good life. He had no regret in the work he had done and the achievement he had made. Although he came from a noble family, he did not follow everything there. Instead, he tried to find his own way to live in the world. It was one of the important messages that people could learn from him in the world nowadays.

To conclude, William Peat was an inspiring leader in the accounting field and his efforts paid for accountancy would always be remembered. He gained huge success in his work but he did not look down upon the others. The humble William Peat is always an example for others to learn from.

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Sunday, April 12, 2020

James Marwick

James Marwick Biography

Hard-working man and he was qualified to be the chartered accountant when he was young.

James Marwick was the son of Sir James David Marwick, who was the Orcadian. James Marwick was a hard-working man and he was qualified to be the chartered accountant when he was young. He began his accounting work in Glasgow and later he traveled to Australia for the bank examination of some Scottish investors.

What they are famous for

An important fact about James Marwick is that he was one of the founders of the KPMG firm. In 1894, he travelled to the USA and he was impressed by the numerous business opportunities there. As a result, he decided to stay there and tried to look for a reliable partner for him to cooperate and expand the accounting business.

The schoolmate of James Marwick, Roger Mitchell, joined him and tried to find business opportunities in the New York City. They tried to form the business practice of accounting and it was labeled as the perfect partnership for ‘front office and back office cooperation’.

After several years of time, they expanded the business to other countries. There was the London office of their business. This established the solid foundation for the firm to achieve further successes in the later time.

How they affected the world today

James Marwick was an important man in the Scottish accounting industry. He was one of the earliest chartered accountants there and he was one of the pioneers in exploring overseas business opportunities in the accounting field. He stayed in the US and explored the opportunities there and he did not give up in finding a reliable partner to cooperate and build good success of the business.

Although James Marwick did not actually witness the formation and naming of KPMG firm, the accounting office that he established was the fundamental part of KPMG global in the world nowadays. The KPMG firm was built by the client network established by James Marwick and it was him and Mitchell who helped to find the other partner of the firm, the ‘P’ of KPMG. Without their efforts in finding the reliable partners, the firm could never achieve success in the later time and evolved to the KPMG firm internationally.

Because James Marwick established the London office apart from headquarter in the US, there were a lot of important achievements that he has made. For example, he had to travel around 15,000 miles per year in order to supervise the work of the both offices. With no computer technology at that time, it was actually not easy to maintain the contact between two offices and the travel made by James Marwick and his partner was necessary. But this type of communication helped the firm to be stable. Otherwise, the firm could hardly achieve a good internal control and business supervision.

To conclude, James Marwick was the one who insisted the quality of accounting work. Even though he had to travel for a long distance, he did not give up in doing so. Therefore, the firm’s success is attributable to his efforts.

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Friday, May 1, 2020

Frederick Whinney

Frederick Whinney Biography

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Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Edwin Waterhouse

Edwin Waterhouse Biography

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Saturday, April 25, 2020

George Touche

George Touche Biography

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Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Elijah Sells

Elijah Sells Biography

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Saturday, April 18, 2020

Samuel Price

Samuel Price Biography

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Wednesday, April 15, 2020

William Peat

William Peat Biography

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Sunday, April 12, 2020

James Marwick

James Marwick Biography

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Frederick Whinney
Biography

Edwin Waterhouse
Biography

George Touche
Biography

Elijah Sells
Biography

Samuel Price
Biography

William Peat
Biography