The Small One
THE cobblers' children go barefoot, and the accountants can't control their costs. Their firms get bigger and so do their fees. As the Big Eight merge, where are the economies of scale? Do the firms save on partners, office blocks, brown envelopes, potted plants? Not a bit of it. They are gearing themselves up for a universal service to multinational companies, with costs and charges to match. A similar form of dropsy afflicted the merchant banks, until some of their brightest spirits — Rupert Hambro, George Magan — split off and set up as specialists on their own, free from office bureaucracy and over- loads. Now Adam Broke, tax partner at Ernst & Young, has shown accountants the way. He has pulled out of that vast partnership, and, taking personal tax wizard Michael Tarbard with him, has set up his own firm, for personal tax and trust business. Clients who want that and no- thing else will pay for that — and nothing else. Not a multinational in sight, or a bureaucrat, nor even a potted plant. As with the merchant bankers, my money is on the Small One.
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