A short history of UHY Hacker Young
The year 2005 marks the 80th anniversary of the establishment of our firm.
Here is a short summary of a long history.
Click on the relevant era in order to find out more about the history of the UHY Hacker Young group.
- 1920's - the early years
- 1930's & 40's - a merger and moves
- 1950's & 60's - a change of faces
- 1970's - a new name
- 1980's - national & international associations
- 1990 to 2000 - continued growth
- Since 2000 - group expansion and international recognition
- 2004 - a new name
- UHY Hacker Young hits the Top 20
- 2006 - expansion into Scotland
- 2007 - a new Sheffield office
1920's - the early years
Johnny Rubens and Mark Hacker were both sons of Jewish tradesmen and had been friends since their schooldays. In 1924 they each qualified as an accountant; Johnny as a chartered accountant and Mark as a certified accountant.
In 1925 they rented an office in 123-124 Chancery Lane, London WC2 and founded Hacker Rubens & Co.
From the start, their aim was to help people with financial problems to get back on their feet. For the sum of 3.0s.0d. they wrote up incomplete records and audited them for friends and contacts within the Jewish community. It was natural that they also specialised in insolvency matters.
Within three years they had outgrown their office space, so moved to 23 Surrey Street, WC2.
1930's & 40's - a merger and moves
The firm merged with Horner, St Clair and Gotelee in 1930 and moved again; to 329 High Holborn, London WC1. Services offered now included tax advice and compliance; of increasing importance to the growing client base.
During the war, and as result of bomb damage, they moved to temporary accommodation in Upper Regent Street, and then in 1947 to 18 Maddox Street, where they stayed until the early 1960s.
1950's & 60's - a change of faces
Johnny had built up a strong client base in the property sector, and although officially retired in the mid 1960s, he continued to work with the firm until the late 1960s. Mark Hacker also retired in 1960. By then, following the merger with Stuart Young & Co in 1961, the firm was being run by Michael Phillips and Stuart Young and changed its name to Hacker, Rubens, Phillips & Young. Paul Susskind was a partner at Stuart Young & Co and joined Hacker, Rubens, Phillips & Young with Stuart.
Michael Phillips had trained with the firm, qualifying in 1954. Stuart was the brother of David Young, now Lord Young of Graffham, and son of a Jewish flour merchant. He was very active in the Jewish community and became chairman of the Central Council of Jewish Social Services. In 1983 he was appointed chairman of the BBC.
In 1962 the firm moved again, first to 76 Brook Street, and then six years later, to the newly built St Alphage House, just off Moorgate. By that time the firm comprised 7 partners and 15 professional staff.
From that time, the firm has offered a broad range of services for owners of family businesses, including bookkeeping and auditing, tax compliance and advice, corporate recovery and company secretarial services.
Offices were opened in Manchester and Nottingham in the mid 1960s to facilitate audits for the Great Universal Stores Group, one of the firm's largest clients. This was the start of a national network of associated firms, the Hacker Young Group.
1970's - a new name
In 1968, the partnership took on a new partner, Frank Stansil. Stuart Young, Frank and Paul Susskind then continued to run the practice together.
In 1970 the firm merged again, this time with Summers Greenbury. Stuart Young was senior partner of the expanded firm, employing 45 professionals in audit, tax and insolvency, and 12 support staff.
The firm changed its name to Hacker Young in 1973.
1980's - national & international associations
A merger, with Farr Rose & Gay, a London firm originally founded in 1854, was agreed in 1980, bringing an additional three partners and eight staff.
By the mid 1980s the Hacker Young Group had three offices, 23 partners and over 130 staff and annual fees of £4.3m. Services offered to clients now included such specialisms as management consultancy, litigation support and arbitration work and computer consultancy.
Following Stuart Young's sudden death in 1986, Frank Stansil, insolvency partner, took over as senior partner, having been managing partner for three years previously. Edward Greenbury became managing partner. Frank also held a number of external directorships and still acts as deputy chairman of King's NHS Healthcare Trust and Chairman of the King's Appeal.
That same year saw the founding of Urbach Hacker Young International, by Hacker Young in the UK and Urbach Kahn & Werlin, a US firm based in New York state. The two firms had worked together under a reciprocal agreement - this was the opportunity to include others in a truly international network. Early members included firms from Holland, Germany and Singapore. UHY is now an international network of over 45 independent member firms worldwide with an annual fees of over $140 million.
A year later came further expansion of the Hacker Young Group in the UK. JC Allen & Co, founded in 1923 and run by Joel Barnett, now the Rt Hon Lord Barnett, in Manchester, and Charmak & Co in Brighton both became members of the Hacker Young Group. They have both since merged with other firms and grown substantially.
In the late 1980's the firm had eight offices; London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Brighton, Leicester, Loughborough, Manchester and Bristol.
1990 to 2000 - continued growth
The national group was further expanded by a practice based in Chester and Wrexham joining the group in 1992. As Haswell Brothers & Co it was first established in 1857 and as such is one of the oldest firms of chartered accountants in the country.
Ladislav Hornan became the London office managing partner in 1995. He had joined the insolvency department in 1974 and become a partner in 1980. Born in Prague, he is active in promoting UK-Czech business and trade.
Our most recent merger was with five partners from Leigh Carr, a West End firm dating from the 1950s, in May 1998. With three additional partners since then, we now have a total of 26 partners and over 150 staff within Hacker Young's London and Nottingham offices and UK fees of over £15 million, placing Hacker Young within the top 25 firms of chartered accountants in the UK.
Since 2000 - group expansion and international recognition
Since the start of the new millennium, the Group has grown substantially, with three new member firms joining the Group, extending the geographical coverage and providing additional depth of expertise.
Two firms joined as associate members. First was Calvert Smith & Co in October 2000. A four partner firm in York, it was established over 30 years ago and has a strong professional reputation among clients and contacts. Then in May 2002 Torgersens joined us. Based in Sunderland and Newcastle, five partners and their staff have developed particular expertise in advising clients on funding applications.
We were also pleased to welcome Birmingham based Winross as a full member in January 2001. Two partners and a dozen staff provide a wide ranging financial consultancy and advisory service to public bodies such as NHS trusts, and local government as well as more conventional accounting services for local businesses.
In May 2004, as a result of a strategic review of the Group, we adopted a new corporate identity, linking all member firms visually to each other and to our international network UHY. This new look demonstrates our commitment to working more closely together across the UK, while harnessing the strengths offered by our international network, UHY.
2004 - A new name!
All the members of the Hacker Young Group are prefixing their names with UHY, the name of our international network. Thus member firms will be known as :
- UHY Hacker Young - London, Nottingham, Manchester, Brighton & Hove, Birmingham, Chester, Wrexham
- UHY Torgersens - Sunderland & Newcastle and Jarrow
- UHY Calvert Smith - York
Click here for more information on what this means for clients and contacts of UHY Hacker Young.
UHY Hacker Young hits the Top 20
In July 2005, the UHY Hacker Young Group reached position 20 in the Accountancy Age and Accountancy magazine league tables. With a fee income now in excess of £26m, over 400 staff and more than 60 partners the Group has grown from strength to strength to reach this impressive position.
2006 – expansion into Scotland
In April 2006, we were pleased to welcome Scottish Firm, Campbell Dallas, the third largest independent firm of Chartered Accountants in Scotland, to the UHY Hacker Young Group.
Campbell Dallas comprises 14 partners with offices in Aberdeen, Bearsden (near Glasgow), Paisley, Stirling and Perth and acts for a wide range of clients in all areas of their business, from compliance through to business consultancy and support.
2007 - a new Sheffield office
In February 2007, The UHY Hacker Young Group has boosted it’s coverage in the UK to 16 offices with the addition of its new Sheffield firm, UHY Wingfield Slater.
UHY Wingfield Slater is a four partner firm, which was formed a century ago in Sheffield city centre. The firm provides accountancy and business development services to small and medium sized owner managed businesses throughout South Yorkshire.
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