Accountant Town

William Peat – The Important Accountant From London

Biography

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.

William Lybrand, Adam & Edward Ross, & Robert Montgomery – Learn About Them

Biography

William Lybrand, Adam & Edward Ross, & Robert Montgomery were all the accountants born in the US. They were important partners in an accounting firm and this accounting firm late grew into a very famous firm.

What they are famous for

William Lybrand, Adam & Edward Ross, & Robert Montgomery operated their accounting firm in the US. They locate the US as the business foundation and provided different types of accounting services for corporate clients.

Later, they found that the business world was changing very quickly and they had to be proactive in seizing business expansion opportunities. Therefore, they tried to find further partners in the world in order to expand well. Then, they found the William Cooper. William Cooper operated the firm in London, which would be the good partners of William Lybrand, Adam & Edward Ross, & Robert Montgomery if they were interested in expanding the business to an international way. Therefore, they approached the William Cooper firm and tried to use the name of Coopers & Lybrand in the international practice. In other words, they did not formally merger together but they tried to cooperate and use the same company name in different countries such that the reputation and exposure of the firm would increase.

How they affected the world today

William Lybrand, Adam & Edward Ross, & Robert Montgomery contributed a lot in the establishment of Coopers & Lybrand in the US. At that time, the US did not have very sophisticated accounting standards. Therefore, the control over the firms was not done very well. But William Lybrand, Adam & Edward Ross, & Robert Montgomery self-initiated to keep good business practice and accounting principles when they provided the services for clients. It would be the important step that they took in their accounting firm operation. Without their perseverance in operating the firm in the US with good code of conduct, the firm would not be a reputable one at that time. Eventually, the firm adopted different mergers and acquisitions and become the PricewaterhouseCoopers in the current world.

In other words, William Lybrand, Adam & Edward Ross, & Robert Montgomery did a lot to keep the foundation stable in the US. While William Cooper was trying his best to build the business in the London office, William Lybrand, Adam & Edward Ross, & Robert Montgomery worked hard in the USA. Many people remember Cooper in the current context but relatively smaller number of people acknowledges the efforts made by William Lybrand, Adam & Edward Ross, & Robert Montgomery.

To conclude, William Lybrand, Adam & Edward Ross, & Robert Montgomery were the accountants who kept good practice in the US even though the control from the authority was not strict at that time. Therefore, they were the people who should be praised and remembered because their work helped the current PwC firm to achieved reputation internationally back then. The partnership agreement in operating an accounting firm was also partly attributed to their work at that period of time.

William Cooper – Founder of a firm eventually consolidated into PwC

Biography

William Cooper was a famous accountant in England. His father was Emmanuel Cooper, who was the important man in London and he was also the Deputy Chairman of London & County Bank.

William Cooper was born in 1826 and died in 1871. Although the life of him is not typically long, he contributed a lot to the development of accounting industry in the world.

What they are famous for

William Cooper is known for its good practice in his accountancy career. He started his career as the clerk of a firm called Quilter Co.

In 1854, he decided to leave this firm. Instead of working for other firms, he tried to operate his own in London’s 13 George Street. In 1858, he cooperated with his brother and they changed the name of the firm to W. & A. Cooper. In 1860, this accounting firm was changed to Cooper Brothers. Since then, the business progress of the firm increased and there were more and more clients approaching the firm. Therefore, Cooper Brothers became one of the reliable firms in the market and the business later acquired many other accounting firms and eventually results in the current firm of PwC.

How they affected the world today

The contribution made by William Cooper to the current world is significant. As mentioned above, the firm that he started eventually evolves to this worldwide firm called PwC. Therefore, the foundation built by William Cooper is the foundation that many of the people in the world rely on nowadays. Without the courage of setting up his own accounting firm in London back then, it would be hard for thousands of people to find the job in accounting field because PwC would hardly exist among the big accounting firms.

Another important influence of William Cooper is that he tried to introduce different types of people into a firm. Instead of finding people from the same country to work in the firm, he tried to integrate different into his business and cooperate with them. This was the good practice of accounting firm because the trade business from country to country may vary. Therefore, it would be good for the firm to have people coming from other country such that they can understand the foreign business practice and apply them in the firm when they are doing the accounting jobs. This would minimize the chance of making mistakes in the projects.

Cooper Brothers was also one of the firms which operated in a diversified business form. Instead of solely working in accounting or auditing, they also tried to provide some types of advisory service. This was the business lines that many of the accounting firms currently would adopt as well.

To conclude, William Cooper was one of the important accounts in the whole world. He might not know this when he established the firm and operated with his brothers. But the fact is that PwC has grown into one of the most important accounting firms in the market.