Our Story

The team's growth

We are a highly respected independent firm of Chartered Accountants and Registered Auditors in Leicestershire with more than a century of heritage in the heart of the East Midlands.

Although we now pride ourselves on providing innovative, cost-effective solutions to our clients, our practice is steeped in history and dates back to a time when accountants were just beginning to establish themselves as a necessary profession acting in the public’s interest.

Our History

1880 - 1883
1916 - 1920
1924 - 1952
1996
2000
2002
2006
2007 - 2011
2015 - 2017
2018 - 2020

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.

Corporate & Social Responsibility

We believe that making a proactive contribution to the society we live in is important, we are active in the various communities we come across and encourage all of our team to get involved.

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Our Values

We put DECENCY at the forefront of everything we do and this is demonstrated by our key values:

We have INTEGRITY
We work to definitive ethical standards, free from bias, dishonesty and injustice.

We are OPEN
We are open to new ideas, we work with honesty and are positive about change.

We are RELIABLE
We do what we say, when we say we will and can be trusted for our accuracy.

We are CHALLENGING
We question the way things are done and encourage innovation.

We have PASSION
We commit to doing our jobs to the best of our ability and we enjoy what we do.

We are EMPOWERING
We encourage and enable our people to act independently and fulfil their potential.

We are CARING
We support each other and play a responsible role in our local community.

We are FAIR
We treat everyone equally and deliver a consistent message.


Equality and Diversity Survey – undertaken in 2023

Gender

Male Female Prefer not to say
32% 68% 0%

Ethnicity

Ethnic Minority Non-Ethnic Minority Prefer not to say
27% 73% 0%

Age

16-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65 and over           Prefer not to say
11% 30% 27% 17% 10% 3%                               2%

Disability

Yes No Prefer not to say
5% 95% 0%

 

Need help or advice?

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If you have any questions about accounts, audit, tax or even your Will we’re here to help.

No obligations, just a friendly chat to help you find the best way to help you get to where you want to be.

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Registered to carry on audit work in the UK; regulated for a range of investment business activities; and licensed to carry out the reserved legal activity of non-contentious probate in England and Wales by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.  Associate Directors of the firm are not Directors of The Rowleys Partnership Limited (registered no. 06125028) and are not subject to the obligations and responsibilities of Directors within Part 10 of the Companies Act 2006.  Any reference to an individual with the job title “Partner” refers to someone who is a Director of The Rowleys Partnership Limited and also a registered member of Rowleys Group LLP (registered no. OC306056)  A list of Directors and Members are available at Companies House. Details of our audit registration can be viewed at www.auditregister.org.uk and details of our probate registration can be viewed at www.icaew.com/probate, both under reference number C001486455. View our Legal and Privacy PolicyView our Terms of Business