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RSM US Took Its Revenue to a New Level in 2022

Posted on by Going Concern News Desk

That level being $3 billion—a first in the firm’s 96-year, multinamed history.

In its 2022 annual report, which was released earlier this week, RSM US noted that its revenue for the year ending April 30 was $3.3 billion ($3,310,265,000 according to INSIDE Public Accounting), a 15% increase over its 2021 revenue of nearly $2.9 billion.

It’s also the last revenue announcement with Joe Adams sitting in the big chair. Joe A. is retiring at the end of this month after a 42-year career with the firm, the last 11 as managing partner and CEO. In a letter in the report, Adams wrote:

RSM has been on an incredible journey—particularly over the last 11 years as we have greatly increased the number of clients we serve; significantly expanded our talent; built outstanding business relationships; launched a philanthropic foundation; implemented a culture, diversity and inclusion program; and grown our business to $3 billion as we executed our strategy. We have carved out a unique position as the first-choice advisor to middle market leaders globally. I am honored and humbled to have been a part of it.

Adams will be succeeded by Brian Becker, RSM’s national consulting leader since April 2017. Adams said this about Becker:

I also am extremely confident in our next managing partner and CEO, Brian Becker. Transformation amid this rapid pace of change will be one of the biggest challenges facing all businesses in the coming years—we see it all around us with technology and digital; new work paradigms; environmental, social and governance issues; diversity; and more. Brian is a leader who sees the opportunities created by change, and he has been leading digital transformations for our clients for the majority of his career. He is absolutely the right person to lead RSM on the next phase of our journey.

OK, back to the revenue stuff. Not surprisingly, RSM’s consulting business had the biggest year-over-year revenue increase at 37%, followed by tax at 34% and audit at 29%.

RSM will remain the fifth largest accounting firm in the U.S. based on revenue, only behind the Big 4. Sixth place BDO USA reported $2.49 billion in revenue during its fiscal 2022.

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H&R Block Was Pretty Eager to Dump RSM McGladrey

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This morning we learned that H&R Block would be selling RSM McGladrey to McGladrey & Pullen for $610 million. This reunion of the two firms is interesting because just a couple of years ago they couldn’t stand the sight of one another. These days, you might conclude that since they opted to rebrand under the name “McGladrey” that everyone has kissed and made up but we all know better.

In all likelihood, there are partners on both sides who would rather set their CPA certificates on fire than work with the other side. The problem for the partners in these firms is that they probably had little choice in the matter, as H&RB seemed intent on cutting off the weak link:

[T]he top U.S. tax preparer looks to jettison the underperforming division and focus on its core business. H&R Block will finance about $65 million of the deal value as it looks to push through the sale of RSM McGladrey.

[…]

In June, H&R Block’s new Chief Executive William Cobb told analysts that RSM’s falling profit and revenue were a drag on the company’s earnings, and that the unit and its troubles were on his “radar screen.”

“(The sale) should improve overall corporate margin, as Tax Services margin in FY11 was 27.1 percent and RSM McGladrey’s was 9.3 percent,” Oppenheimer analyst Scott Schneeberger said in a note to clients.

And despite the Blockheads eagerness, the gang at M&P seems perfectly okay with it. From the firm’s press release:

“The Board’s objective is to reunite the assurance, tax and consulting practices under an integrated McGladrey & Pullen partnership structure,” said Jerry Bourassa, Chairman of McGladrey & Pullen’s Board of Directors. “The anticipated transaction will not impact the quality and timeliness of services to our clients. Our partners and employees remain focused on meeting and exceeding client expectations.”

[…]

“This is all about what we believe to be in the best interests of our clients, our employees and our partners. We see great opportunities for success and growth for McGladrey & Pullen as a firm reunited in a traditional partnership structure,” said Joe Adams, Managing Partner of McGladrey & Pullen. “Our relationship with H&R Block has served us very well but we both agree that it is time to move on.”

So it sounds like there may be cake and punch but it probably won’t be a lively affair.

Of course we’d rather hear from the people on the ground (i.e. the McGladrey partners, employees, Natalie) about what they make of this shitstorm. I can’t imagine anyone missing the used car dealership of the tax prep world but is this reunion going to work? Will C.E. and the gang now be able to turn Mickey G’s into the next accounting powerhouse? Can we get one name for the combined firm, for crissakes? All important questions. Please enlighten us below.

H&R Block to sell consulting unit for $610 mln [Reuters]
McGladrey & Pullen, LLP signs letter of intent to acquire RSM McGladrey, Inc. [McGladrey]

*Dustin Bradford

One RSM US Office Might Want to Rethink Its Retention Strategy For Managers and Supervisors

From the tip box last week: Big Salary increases for senior auditors moving to RSM […]

Web CPA: McGladrey & Pullen Partners Vote to Go Back to H&R Block, RSM McGladrey

gulbis3.jpgWell, sons and daughter of McGladrey, the reconciliation is done. Your feuding parental firms will be engaging in some awkward corporate make-up sex:

An arbitration ruling, which was handed down Nov. 24, favors H&R Block and RSM, enforcing the restrictive labor covenants involving employees of the two firms.

About 650 McGladrey partners began meeting in Orlando, Fla., on Wednesday and voted Thursday to approve the agreement after the M&P board, including managing partner Dave Scudder, had earlier approved the deal.


The whole thing has been pretty ugly as far as we can tell and according to Allan Koltin, CEO of PDI Global, a consultancy firm that advised both firms, M&P didn’t have any choice but to go back:

The enforcement of some of the terms of the original agreement by the arbitrator seems to have forced M&P’s hand. “Once the arbitration ruling came out and McGladrey & Pullen found they were prohibited from providing tax services for a couple of years, that was the end right there,” said Koltin. “There was no way they could be independent as an audit-only firm and compete effectively without also providing tax services.”

The original non-solicitation agreement said that M&P could not provide services such as tax preparation for between 18 and 24 months if it terminated the agreement, effectively limiting the firm to audit services. “Once they saw the writing on the wall, it became obvious that the two sides were going to come together,” said Koltin.

So this appears to be awkward. Did M&P think this through or even read the non-solicitation agreement before they told H&RB/RSM to drop dead? Did they legitimately think they could get by just offering the audit services for two years?
While we were rooting for the firms to make nice, there may be some of you that are less enthusiastic about the House of McGladrey being all under one roof again. We’d like to hear from the troops on the ground about this whole thing. Feel free to get in touch or just put it out there in the comments.

McGladrey & Pullen Partners Vote to Reconcile with Block [Web CPA]

UPDATE: The full press release can be seen here.