Business Plus Accountancy & Business Advisory - Who's Who in Ireland

As published in Business plus.

Part of the RSM global network, RSM Ireland is a Top 10 firm with offices in Dublin, Birr and Portlaoise. Founding partner John Glennon works with domestic mid-market SMEs on growth strategies as well as FDI companies.

ACTIVITY

We have continued to experience very strong demand across all our service lines, both domestically and internationally over the last year, with our headcount rising to 208 people. We welcomed three new partners to the firm in the last 12 months and expect continued growth across our service lines in 2020.

We opened a second office in Ranelagh in February 2019 which houses our consulting team. We expect the market demand for expertise in areas such as IT consulting, change management, resourcing solutions and forensic and investigation services to expand. We have also seen a significant increase in opportunities from RSM UK and US, where their clients are doing business in Ireland.

CLIENTS

Our multi-faceted business- advisor offering supports mid-market business owners to focus on their long-term business strategy. Clients are now consistently engaging with us to help them solve their business problems holistically, rather than seeking out our four services lines separately.

Brexit is front of mind for our clients but another priority is developing their technology systems and strategies. Kick- started by the GDPR legislation in 2018, clients are continuing to dedicate more budget to safeguarding their data. A significant number of organisations are not adequately protecting themselves against cybercrime, so we see our IT consulting services continuing to be of value.

TAXATION

When speaking with international colleagues there is often a scratching of heads when they learn that in Ireland there is no charge for water and property taxation is based on historical values when values were at a very low point. On property taxes, we seem to have the only left-wing parties in Europe that oppose such taxation.

Broadly speaking, capital taxes are chargeable at 33%, and since being increased to this rate there has been a drop-off in the quantum of taxation raised from these taxes. In my view, reducing the CGT rate back down to 20% is likely to lead to an increased tax yield. Our top income tax rate remains at a very high 55% for self-employed individuals and 52% for those in employment.

Increasingly, this is not likely to prove viable.

OPPORTUNITIES

We see ourselves as one of the only first generation, globally branded mid-tier firms in Ireland. Over the past 12 months, I have worked as part of a European leadership team with a number of other RSM member firms across Europe and the US to develop a package of FDI initiatives aimed at businesses expanding into these territories.

As a result of this, we have achieved a number of successful wins, including a multinational market leader in providing innovative software and consultancy services to global clients. This win was led by RSM Ireland, and as a network we are now providing compliance services for over 20 jurisdictions located in Asia Pacific, Europe, Mexico and South Africa.

 

As seen in the Business Plus, March 2020.