RSM Ireland poised for accelerated growth

Niall May, the new Managing Partner of RSM Ireland, outlines his strategic plans for the firm at a pivotal point in its evolution

Niall May, FCA, was appointed Managing Partner of RSM Ireland in January following the recent announcement of a strategic investment in the firm by RSM UK. A partner and Head of Audit at RSM Ireland for close to 10 years, May has more than 25 years’ experience in professional services. He succeeds John Glennon, one of RSM Ireland’s founding partners, who will remain with the firm as a board member and Head of Strategy. Here, May talks to Accountancy Ireland about RSM Ireland’s plans to accelerate investment in service offerings and increase its share of the middle market.

Can you give us an overview of RSM Ireland as it stands currently?

We have 200 employees and ambitions to grow our headcount significantly in the short term. 

We are an independent member of RSM International, the world’s sixth largest network of assurance, tax and consulting firms, and our business is centred on three key service lines – audit, tax and consulting, with a particular focus on middle market businesses, both locally and globally. 

We work with domestic and international clients across a range of sectors, particularly life sciences, financial services, public sector, technology and media and telecommunications. 

More than 65 percent of our audit and tax clients are active globally. Key for us is delivering innovative services to help them achieve their business goals. 

The strength of RSM globally means we can work with member firms in other countries to serve our global clients with a presence here in Ireland and our domestic clients active in overseas markets.

Our consultancy business spans a wide range of solutions, which include transformation, HR and change, finance support solutions, forensic investigations, restructuring advisory, technology and corporate finance services. 

It is my ambition as Managing Partner to position RSM Ireland as the advisor of choice to the middle market and drive competition in the professional services sector.

Talk us through the firm’s evolution since it was established in 1987 as Ryan Glennon & Company.

The firm was established nearly 40 years ago by John Glennon and Liam Ryan and continues to have deep roots in the Irish business community. 

We made the strategic decision to join the RSM International network in 2016 and that has been a game-changer in the firm’s evolution. 

The RSM International network spans 120 countries with over 64,000 people in more than 800 offices. It has a very wide reach, particularly in the key markets we serve globally. Since 2016, RSM Ireland has doubled in size in both turnover and headcount and we have significantly increased the strength and depth of our services. 

Our view is that all business now is essentially global and Ireland, in particular, is a very open economy.

RSM is also very integrated and collaborative across borders, so we benefit from sharing skills, insights and resources. 

RSM International saw record year-on-year growth in revenue of 16 percent with global revenues of US$9.4 billion for the 12 months to December 2023, and a 13 percent increase in global headcount. 

Over the same period, RSM Ireland achieved revenue and people growth of 19 percent and 21 percent respectively.

Tell us about RSM UK’s recent investment in RSM Ireland.

We announced the strategic investment from RSM UK in November 2023. It is very significant for us because it will drive greater access to talent, technology, support and the services we can offer the corporate market.

It will accelerate our ability to create long-term growth and drive increased competition in the professional services sector in Ireland.

It also underlines the wider confidence in Ireland’s economy and the opportunities that exist in this market. 

As well as increasing our physical footprint, the investment gives us access to greater resources, while better positioning the firm to target investments, invest in talent and technology and offer new services. 

It will also allow us to create more opportunities for our staff, both new and existing. We aim to increase our graduate intake this year to over 50 while also creating exciting opportunities for experienced hires.

What are the biggest changes you have seen in your market since joining RSM Ireland?

 While Ireland remains an attractive destination for global companies to locate, build and grow their businesses, we are facing challenges right now relating to our infrastructural capacity, housing and energy supply. 

We need to accelerate our response to overcoming these challenges so that Ireland can remain competitive. 

Within the accountancy market, we are seeing a definite trend towards consolidation. For RSM Ireland, we could see that the investment from RSM UK offered a natural route to supporting and accelerating our next phase of the growth of our business.

What will your strategic priorities be in your new role? 

Looking first at developments in the global economy, I see opportunities to further grow our international client base. 

A key ambition is to expand our teams across all service lines and develop new services, particularly in response to rising demand for environmental, social and governance, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence services.  

We will be looking to develop our sector expertise further across financial services, life sciences, technology and media and telecoms. 

Building strength in our global network will also be key though the RSM International network and expanding our International Desk Programme in key markets including the US.

For the accountants you employ, what emerging skills are you focusing on now to future-proof their roles? 

Embracing technology and adapting to ongoing changes in the world of work is key for all professionals. 

Accountants, in particular, are very good at understanding the latest changes and developments and, more importantly, understanding the wider developments in business operations and the related risks. 

We invest quite significantly in supporting our people as they adopt new technologies, and we will continue to do so. This is key for our business, because we absolutely must be able to understand our clients’ needs, and support and bring value to their business through meaningful, in-depth knowledge.

I anticipate greater sustained spend on technologies to support further process automation and data analytics. This will be key to enabling our people to deliver rich insights to help clients improve business performance and stay ahead of developments in their markets. 

What are your expectations for the economy in Ireland and globally in the months ahead? 

On a positive note, current trends and projections point to calming inflation. There is now an expectation in Europe and beyond that interest rates will start to come down as soon as June. 

I think we can expect to see a loosening of Central Bank fiscal policy and improved GDP forecasts, which will be positive for business.

Business resilience will be tested in other ways, however. The war for talent will continue to rage and global tax developments – for example, Pillar Two tax reform and other initiatives – will bring their own challenges. We will also potentially have a new US administration, which may see changes in certain US policies.

Despite all of this, I genuinely do believe that business leaders have good reason to feel more optimistic as they look ahead following a particularly turbulent period.