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Our History
The earliest references to the founders of Rickard Keen can be found in the handbook of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. In 1925, Mr R Yorke Rickard established a firm in London and, in the same year, a Mr Hartley established a firm in Southend-on-Sea.
These firms grew in their own fashion, with that of Mr Hartley ultimately becoming Hartley Keen, operating from 2 Nelson Street. Mr Rickard’s firm grew both by opening an office in Southend, where he lived, and by opening additional offices in towns where he secured appointments as an insolvency practitioner.
Living memory recalls the time when the firm had additional offices in Worthing and Honiton. During the1960s, Rickard Porter had an office in Victoria Avenue, where many other firms and organisations used converted Victorian houses as office accommodation and Mr Porter used to grow potatoes in the front garden! By the late 1960s, Rickard Porter had located to 9 and 11 Nelson Street.
In 1980 the two firms merged, resulting in a practice which currently has five partners and 41 staff.
In 2005, the Basildon Office was opened and has gone from strength to strength. The firm has also continued to develop and has absorbed one or two small practices in recent years.
While Rickard Keen has been a successful training office for many years – with most of our qualified people having trained with the firm – we continue to focus on providing a prompt, efficient and personal service to all of our clients on a cost-effective basis.
Our clients range from very small personal tax cases to two companies which, ten years ago, were quoted on the Stock Exchange and who have bought themselves back and appointed us as their auditors.
In 2010 we were delighted to be awarded the inaugural ICAEW South Essex Firm of the Year, followed in 2011 by the Training Firm of the Year Award for South Essex.
In 2012 the firm won an unprecedented three awards at the ICAEW South Essex awards, being named Firm of the Year and Training Firm of the Year. In addition Jamie Nice was named Young Chartered Accountant of the Year.
In 2010, we were delighted to be awarded the ICAEW inaugural Essex Firm of the Year, followed by the Training Firm of the Year for Essex in 2011. We have been members of MGI for more than 30 years and are actively involved in this organisation, servicing our clients in the UK and abroad.
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