RSM makes 11 partner and director appointments in Australia
Accounting and consulting firm RSM has made almost a dozen senior appointments to kick off the new year, including two internal partnership promotions and one recruit from South Africa.
Eckard Bergh joins RSM in Sydney after more than a decade and a half with the firm in Johannesburg, while audit & assurance office colleague Jie Dong joined as a graduate in 2016. Tax professional Liam Telford has also made partner in Perth.
Additionally, RSM has made eight director appointments, including new recruits Ben Carson and Shaun La Motte in Sydney and Melbourne. Tristan Hedley and Stephanie Gudzoski have also been promoted to director in Sydney and Melbourne, alongside Claudia Youngman and Daniel O’Loughlin in Canberra and Fremantle and Joel Ashworth and Louis Carney in Brisbane.
“Supporting the career development of our internal staff is a key priority for the firm, and it’s pleasing to see talented team members rewarded and recognised within the business,” said Robert Miano, who took over as chief executive partner in July. “Four of the eleven promoted leaders started their careers as graduates with RSM and are now an integral part of our business.”
Jie Dong is among those four, joining as a graduate after completing a commerce degree in economics at Xiamen University complemented by a masters with the University of Sydney. She specialises in audit services for listed companies and large private firms across industries including information technology, mining, manufacturing, and retail.
Eckard Bergh meanwhile earned his accounting degree with the University of Johannesburg in 2010, and has been with RSM in South Africa since, including as a partner from 2016 and serving as head of assurance. His focus has been on complex audit and financial reporting engagements across sectors including manufacturing, professional services, private equity, wholesale, and retail.
“The recruitment of Eckard from RSM South Africa with 17 years’ experience and the internal promotion of Jie Dong, who is also a key member of RSM’s China practice group, demonstrates our strategic investment in the Sydney market and highlights our commitment to developing talent within both the Australian practice and our extensive international pool of experts,” Miano said.
The third of the firm’s new partners, Liam Telford crossed to RSM from Deloitte in 2022 before being bumped up to director at the beginning of last year. With a further background at BHP, KPMG and Standard Chartered in Singapore and the ATO, Telford is an expert on technical tax matters, including for clients in the mining, energy & resources, and real estate & construction sectors.
Directors
Carson joins RSM’s restructuring & insolvency team from boutique Farnsworth Carson, before which he gained experience at Grant Thornton, Moore Stephens, and Hall Chadwick in both Australia and the UK, while superannuation specialist La Motte crosses from Neo Super, having earlier spent more than two decades at Pitcher Partners, and KPMG/WHK and BMG in Albury.
“Shaun is a seasoned professional, specialising in SMSFs, and we value his experience in leading significant offshore due diligence projects in India,” Miano said, adding; “We also look forward to leveraging Ben’s expertise, which includes liquidation, receivership, voluntary administration, viability assessments, corporate insolvency, and small business restructuring and turnarounds.”
Internally, Ashworth, who joined from Grant Thornton in 2022, and former graduate O’Loughlin have been promoted within RSM’s business advisory team, while Hedley, with RSM in Sydney and London since 2014, and Carney (ex Deloitte, PwC, and EY, including in South Africa), are members of the tax team. Gudzoski steps up within the audit & assurance division after joining in 2014.
