Third of Robson Rhodes partners have left GT

Around 65 Robson Rhodes partners joined Grant Thornton when the merger deal was struck in July 2007. So far, 20 have stepped down from their positions, according to data available from Companies House. They were among 67 partners to resign from GT since the merger.

GT said six of the Robson Rhodes partners who had resigned were still working in the business as directors or on a consultancy basis.

Robson Rhodes had 85 partners in 2006, according to their last separate entry in the Accountancy Age Top 50 of that year.

‘Naturally the merger meant change – partners from both legacy firms have since retired, others stayed with Grant Thornton as directors or consultants and some have chosen to pursue their careers elsewhere,’ said a GT spokesman. ‘In the vast majority of cases, these changes to the partnership have been achieved perfectly amicably and suit the needs of both the individual and the firm.'

Phil Shohet, a director at professional services advisers KATO, said: ‘In general, most of the weeding out of partners is done pre-merger but, if an acquisition has financial difficulties and the deal is struck quickly, not all the issues can be dealt with at the time.’