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Founders
William Welch Deloitte
One of the fathers of the accountancy profession
William Welch Deloitte was one of the fathers of the
accountancy profession. A grandson of a Count de Loitte, who had fled France
during the French Revolution, Deloitte started his career early. At the age of
15 he became an assistant to the Official Assignee at the Bankruptcy Court in
the City of London, and there he learned the business. The fledgling
accountancy profession grew from its early days in the lucrative business of
sorting out the affairs of bankrupts.
In 1845, at the age of 25, Deloitte opened his own office
opposite the Bankruptcy Court in Basinghall Street. Three momentous Companies
Acts created joint-stock companies, laying the foundation for modern company
structures, and Deloitte was in his element. He made his name with the industry
of the day — the railways — and in 1849 at the Great Western Railway, amidst a
great commotion; he became the first independent auditor ever appointed. He
discovered frauds on the Great North Railway, invented a system for railway
accounts that protected investors from mismanagement of funds, and was to
become the grand old man of the profession.
As president of the newly created Institute of Chartered
Accountants, Deloitte found a site for its headquarters in 1888. In 1893 he
opened offices in the United States and soon after started to audit a growing
soap and candle business. Over a century later, Procter & Gamble is still a
client. In 1952, Deloitte's firm in the United States merged with Haskins &
Sells
George Touche
Reputation for flair, integrity, and expertise
Were it not for the English inability to pronounce Scottish
names, the name Touche would never have set its imprint on the accountancy
world. When George Touch qualified as an accountant in Edinburgh in 1883 and,
like so many, set off south to seek his fortune, there was no "e" on the end of
his name. In fact, the end of the name was pronounced in the same way as the
Scottish "loch." "With a view to preventing the ordinary mispronunciation of my
surname," he later changed it.
Financial disasters in the new and booming investment trust
business gave him his business opportunity. His reputation for flair,
integrity, and expertise brought him a huge amount of work setting these trusts
on the straight and narrow. A similar flair for saving doomed businesses from
disaster and restructuring them led to the formation of George A. Touch &
Co. in 1899. And in 1900, along with John Niven, the son of his original
Edinburgh accounting mentor, he set up the firm of Touch, Niven & Co. in
New York.
Offices spread across the United States and Canada and were
soon attracting clients like R. H. Macy. In the United Kingdom, General
Electric Company was an important client — and still is.
Meanwhile Touche himself took his reputation for probity to
the electors, became MP for North Islington in 1910, and was knighted in 1917.
He died in 1935.
Admiral Nobuzo Tohmatsu
Japanese practice owes its origins to Tohmatsu
The Japanese practice of Tohmatsu owes its origins to Admiral
Nobuzo Tohmatsu. He worked as a naval attache at the London embassy, where he
had the honor of being invited to George V's silver wedding anniversary at
Buckingham Palace. He had also been an instructor at the Naval Paymasters
Academy. Among his students were many talented people who took an active part
in the official and economic worlds after the war.
After Tohmatsu qualified as a certified public accountant at
the age of 57 in 1952, he became a partner in a foreign-affiliated accounting
firm and a director of a private corporation. In 1967, he became president of
the Japanese Institute of CPAs. At this time, the Japanese government wanted to
see national audit corporations established, and Tohmatsu asked Iwao Tomita, a
former student, to respond to that challenge. Tomita had also earned an MBA at
the Wharton School in the United States. Tohmatsu and Tomita had a common sense
of purpose and were closely bound by similar experiences in the Navy. Thus, in
May of 1968, Tohmatsu & Co. (formerly Tohmatsu Awoki & Co.) was
incorporated.
The key to Tohmatsu's growth was the decision to send a
substantial number of partners and professional staff overseas to gain
experience. From the beginning, this meant the firm was internationally
focused, and it is reflected in its long-standing international clients.
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