Smith & Williamson

Smith & Williamson is a United Kingdom financial and professional services firm, with operating income of £266.7m for the year ending 30 April 2018. With £20.1bn funds under management (at 30 April 2018), the firm is also one of the largest independently owned investment managers in the UK. The firm's 1,700 people serve clients from 12 offices in the UK, Ireland and Jersey. [1]

Smith & Williamson
Limited Company
IndustryProfessional services
Founded1881
HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
Key people
David Cobb & Kevin Stopps, coCEOs
ProductsAccounting
Corporate services
Investment management
Tax
Number of employees
1,700 (including partners)
Websitesmithandwilliamson.com

Smith & Williamson is a UK member firm of Nexia International, a worldwide network of accounting, audit and consulting firms.[2]

History

Smith & Williamson was founded by David Johnstone Smith and Andrew Williamson in Glasgow in 1881. The first London office was opened in 1893. Smith & Williamson has had a number of mergers. The first merger was with NCL (Securities) Limited, an investment manager, in 2002. Its second merger was with Solomon Hare, a private accounting firm in UK, in 2005.[3][4] In 2018 Smith & Williamson merged with LHM Casey McGrath in Dublin.[5]

Locations

Smith & Williamson has twelve offices in the United Kingdom and Ireland: Bristol, Birmingham, Cheltenham, Guildford, Salisbury and Southampton, England; Belfast and Dublin (City and Sandyford), Ireland; Jersey; and Glasgow, Scotland, with the headquarter office in London, England.[6] In Belfast the firm operates under the name Cunningham Coates.[7]

Clients and services

Smith & Williamson offers a range of personal and business services to private clients and their business interests, including:

  • Investment management
  • Business and private client tax
  • Personal financial planning
  • Assurance and business services
  • Restructuring and recovery services
  • Pensions and employee benefits
  • Forensic services
  • Corporate finance
  • Fund administration
  • Managed portfolio service and funds

The firm works with three main groups of clients: [8]

  • Individuals and families
  • Businesses and their owners
  • Professional advisers and trustees

Awards
  • Wealth Adviser Award Winner 2018: Best Wealth Manager - Charities[9]
  • Wealth Adviser Award Winner 2018: Best HNW Team[9]
  • MPF Awards for Management Excellence 2018: Best Managed National Firm[10]
  • MPF Awards for Management Excellence 2018: Best Co-ordination in Winning New Work[10]
  • Charity Times Awards 2018: Winner - Investment Management[11]
  • Citywire Wealth Manager - Investment Performance Awards: Winner - Best Overall Large Firm[12]

Panama Papers

The company's activities came under scrutiny in 2016, when it was revealed that its employees had managed the Smith & Williamson Blairmore Global Equity Fund since 1997.[13] This fund was founded by David Cameron's (prime minister of the UK from 2010 to 2016) lay father Ian.[14] Earlier in the year, HM Revenue & Customs won a court case against Smith & Williamson, over the treatment of "goodwill payments" made by the firm to a portfolio manager and some team members.[15]

References
  1. Dew, Laura (2 July 2018). "S&W chairman: We have bolt-on acquisitions 'in our sights'". Investment Week.
  2. Nexia International
  3. http://www.vault.com/company-profiles/accounting/smith-williamson/company-overview.aspx
  4. "Our history - Smith & Williamson". smithandwilliamson.com.
  5. "Smith & Williamson merge with LHM Casey McGrath". Accountancy Age. 2018-10-03. Retrieved 2018-12-05.
  6. http://smithandwilliamson.com/about-us/locations
  7. "Cunningham Coates". Cunningham Coates.
  8. "Smith & Williamson Annual Report and Accounts 2018". Annual Report and Accounts 2018. July 2018.
  9. "Wealth Adviser Awards 2018 - The Winners". Wealth Adviser. 2018-05-17. Retrieved 2018-12-05.
  10. RicoSurf. "MPF Global". PMF. Retrieved 2018-12-05.
  11. "Charity Times Awards 2018: Winners announced". www.charitytimes.com. Retrieved 2018-12-05.
  12. "Wealth Manager Performance Awards 2017: the winners revealed!". Citywire. 19 October 2017.
  13. "Top ten firm distances itself from Blairmore Holdings connection". AccountancyAge. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  14. "HMRC wins 'goodwill payments' tax battle against Smith & Williamson - Accountancy Age". Accountancy Age. 2016-01-20. Retrieved 2017-10-24.
  15. "HMRC wins 'goodwill payments' tax battle against Smith & Williamson". 20 Jan 2016. Retrieved 9 August 2016.

[1]


  1. https://www.icas.com/ca-today-news/the-top-30-accountancy-firms-revealed
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