Anchored in trust
RSM’s reputation was built on two disciplines that demand absolute rigor: assurance and tax. Both can be traced to the firm’s earliest days—and both have evolved into operations that anchor the firm’s credibility in the middle market.
Founder Ira B. McGladrey set the standard. He brought a true passion for auditing work and an insistence on professional excellence that not only shaped his firm but also influenced broader expectations for financial reporting.
“Perhaps it takes a peculiar type of mentality to like public accounting work. I remember one audit I made in Des Moines, which was the first that had been made of that corporation. I had to get out all the musty old records going back twenty years or more… I was enjoying myself shaping up the financial picture of the past, when I began to get the peculiar sensation one gets when he feels he is being observed. I turned around and there in the doorway stood the president and general manager. He finally said, 'Do you really like to do that?'”
McGladrey’s early partner Keith Dunn built the firm’s initial tax practice with equal rigor, and together they established a culture of precision and client trust.
That culture was tested early. In 1954, the firm performed its first public company audit after the company’s president defied his investment bank’s recommendation to use a Big Eight firm. The successful engagement opened the door to a new SEC compliance specialty and proved the firm could compete at the highest levels.
After World War II, the tax practice deepened considerably when Roy Barnes, a former IRS employee, was brought in to oversee the specialty. Barnes operated out of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, but made a regular circuit through the firm’s offices to help teams troubleshoot complicated tax issues—an early model for the kind of national and international capabilities the firm would later institutionalize.
Today, that commitment to quality is reinforced through hundreds of partners and two national technical engines. The assurance National Professional Standards Group strengthens the firm’s audit quality through policy, methodology, training and industry-specific technical leadership. The group’s fellowship program immerses assurance professionals in national office projects, building future leaders while contributing directly to firmwide quality.
“The value of our assurance practice to the middle market has never been more important, especially in an environment experiencing an increasingly existential crisis of trust. Delivering on this is at the very core of the firm’s success historically and into the future.”
The firm's tax expertise today includes perspectives from the highest levels of government. In 2017, Dave Kautter, who led Washington National Tax (WNT), was confirmed as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Tax Policy.
WNT provides critical connections to Capitol Hill and federal and state agencies, delivering clients and professionals timely insight on new developments. WNT professionals serve as on-the-spot resources for resolving complex technical questions—a capability that plays a key role in building service models for middle market clients.
“Tax has always been strongest when we combine deep technical knowledge with a clear understanding of where our clients are headed. That is how we help middle market businesses manage complexity, plan with confidence and continue growing.”
