Our Story

Only three years after Queen Victoria bestowed Royal Charter on our governing body, The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) in 1880, Edwin Playster Steeds opened his new accountancy practice at 20 Friar Lane, Leicester.

He was joined by Clement Miles in 1916 and in 1920 the partners then took on a new clerk, John William Rowley.

Mr Rowley’s abilities and ambitions soon became clear and, following a short partnership with Mr Miles, he left to set up John Rowley and Co in 1924, the firm he ran until his death in 1952.

There was little change to the practice until 1996 when we became the first independent accountants in Leicester to receive the ‘Investors in People’ accreditation, an early demonstration of our commitment to the continual development of our team.

Shortly afterwards we launched Rowley Turton (IFA) Limited, a sister company that gives our offering yet another dimension by offering our clients independent financial advice.

We continued to look for the additional services our clients require. In 2000 this led us to add a second sister company, Allbright Bishop Rowley, who specialise in bespoke insurance and risk management solutions.

In 2002 we changed our name to The Rowleys Group to reflect the fact we were now much more than an accountancy practice.

By 2006 we were fully established as a limited liability partnership so turned our attention to growth.

Our acquisitions of local firm DSJ forced us to relocate to our new offices in Harcourt Way, Meridian Business Park. That way we could continue our culture of housing all experts in one place.

Having so many new colleagues has also brought in a wealth of experience and expertise that’s not only improved the accounting, audit and advisory services our clients enjoy, it’s also allowed us to develop several very specialist areas including medical practices, pension funds and charity & not-for-profit organisations.

During this period our specialist Medical Sector department was formed, recognising that the sector needed a very specialist focus from us.

During early 2015 we made a further acquisition of Kemp Taylor LLP, which was a good strategic fit with our business, we were also delighted to be one of the first firms in the country  to be licensed by the ICAEW to undertake non-contentious Probate work.  We now have two licensed individuals who are able to complete this work.

We continued our investment during this period, becoming specialists in cloud accounting.  We also invested in our people and strengthened our management team by promoting three people to Associate Directors.

From 2018 to 2020 we continued to look at how we needed to continue to invest in technology and people to keep the pace of change that was so prevalent in our industry. With this in mind in early 2020 we were joined by a new partner, Tom Copson from Grant Thornton, who would complement our continued focus on high quality audit work and grow our offering to the mid-market corporate market in the East Midlands.

So, while it’s been a very busy century, we can’t help but feel the next century will be even more eventful.

We will continue to develop our team, our expertise, the range of services we offer and the way we work so we can make sure you receive even more innovative, insightful and cost-effective solutions to drive your future growth.

Building up to 2024 the firm continued to grow, with new people joining across all departments.  We commenced a process during 2023 to look at our international reach and how we can help clients further with their international ambitions.  On 1^st May 2024 the firm expanded its international reach, through membership with DFK UKI/International an alliance of firms all over the world, working in a similar way to collaborate and support clients.

In addition to this, from April we have had two partner promotions, Lisa Parkes and Matt Hutchinson Partner promotions at Rowleys.

In July we were also joined by new Tax Partner, Clare Clifford, a highly respected Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Adviser, brings a wealth of experience to the firm, enhancing Rowleys’ capabilities to serve clients across the East Midlands. Rowleys welcomes new tax partner