Learn about our founders
| While we are known in the global marketplace by our brand name, "Deloitte," our legal entity name — Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited — owes its existence to three leaders in our profession who, from the beginning of their professional careers, recognized the importance of a worldwide practice: | |
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In 1845, at the age of 25, Deloitte opened his own office opposite the Bankruptcy Court in Basinghall Street. Three momentous Companies Acts created joint-stock companies, laying the foundation for modern company structures, and Deloitte was in his element. He made his name with the industry of the day — the railways — and in 1849 at the Great Western Railway, amidst a great commotion; he became the first independent auditor ever appointed. He discovered frauds on the Great North Railway, invented a system for railway accounts that protected investors from mismanagement of funds, and was to become the grand old man of the profession. As president of the newly created Institute of Chartered Accountants, Deloitte found a site for its headquarters in 1888. In 1893 he opened offices in the United States and soonafter started to audit a growing soap and candle business. Over a century later, Procter & Gamble is still a client. In 1952, Deloitte's firm in the United States merged with Haskins & Sells. |
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Financial disasters in the new and booming investment trust business gave him his business opportunity. His reputation for flair, integrity, and expertise brought him a huge amount of work setting these trusts on the straight and narrow. A similar flair for saving doomed businesses from disaster and restructuring them led to the formation of George A. Touch & Co. in 1899. And in 1900, along with John Niven, the son of his original Edinburgh accounting mentor, he set up the firm of Touch, Niven & Co. in New York. Offices spread across the United States and Canada and were soon attracting clients like R. H. Macy. In the United Kingdom, General Electric Company was an important client — and still is. Meanwhile Touche himself took his reputation for probity to the electors, became MP for North Islington in 1910, and was knighted in 1917. He died in 1935. |
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After Tohmatsu qualified as a certified public accountant at the age of 57 in 1952, he became a partner in a foreign-affiliated accounting firm and a director of a private corporation. In 1967, he became president of the Japanese Institute of CPAs. At this time, the Japanese government wanted to see national audit corporations established, and Tohmatsu asked Iwao Tomita, a former student, to respond to that challenge. Tomita had also earned an MBA at the Wharton School in the United States. Tohmatsu and Tomita had a common sense of purpose and were closely bound by similar experiences in the Navy. Thus, in May of 1968, Tohmatsu & Co. (formerly Tohmatsu Awoki & Co.) was incorporated. The key to Tohmatsu's growth was the decision to send a substantial number of partners and professional staff overseas to gain experience. From the beginning, this meant the firm was internationally focused, and it is reflected in its long-standing international clients. |
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