Baker Tilly Brand Guidelines: Summit 1987, a British Name & the Moss Adams Merger

A network older than its name.

Baker Tilly is two things at once: an international network of independent accounting and advisory firms, and the brand name that many of those firms carry. The network’s own history, published by Baker Tilly International, traces the name to a British practice. That lineage goes back to 1870 and the firm of Walter Howard, and the name Baker Tilly itself arrived in 1988, when Howard Tilly merged with Baker Rooke.

The network is a year older than the name. In 1987, the network says, 50 firms across 20 territories came together to form an organisation called Summit International Associates, Inc. Its headquarters moved from New York to London in 2000, and in 2002 it rebranded as Baker Tilly, taking the name of what it calls its “then UK member firm” because of that firm’s international client base and strong domestic brand. In the same year, it says, it entered the top ten of the International Accounting Bulletin’s World Survey, and by 2007 it had reached more than 100 territories.

The British firm that lent its name later left. English Wikipedia’s article on RSM UK says that after buying the trading operations of RSM Tenon, the UK Baker Tilly firm gave notice to the network in 2014 and joined RSM, adopting the RSM name on 26 October 2015. English Wikipedia’s article on the network says that MHA MacIntyre Hudson, now known as MHA, joined in its place in Britain in 2014.

Today the network is run through Baker Tilly International Limited, which its website describes as an English company that provides no client services. Each member firm, the network says, is “a separate and independent legal entity.” Its chief executive is Francesca Lagerberg.

Virchow Krause, private equity and Moss Adams.

In the United States the name belongs to a firm with Midwestern roots. Accounting Today reported on 1 June 2009 that Virchow Krause, of Madison, Wisconsin, had changed its name to Baker Tilly to reflect its membership of the network, and would operate under the legal name Baker Tilly Virchow Krause LLP. The magazine gave the firm’s founding year as 1931 and said it had joined the network in 1999; its chief executive at the time called it the first and only U.S. firm to adopt the global Baker Tilly brand, and said the change suited clients that were increasingly working internationally.

The US firm grew through mergers, among them Philadelphia’s ParenteBeard in 2014 and California’s Squar Milner in 2020, according to English Wikipedia. In February 2024, Consulting.us reported, the private equity firms Hellman & Friedman and Valeas Capital Partners agreed a strategic investment for just over half of the firm, which would split into an “alternative practice structure.” The firm’s website now describes that split: Baker Tilly US, LLP is the licensed CPA firm that provides attest services, while Baker Tilly Advisory Group, LP and its subsidiaries provide tax and business advisory services and are not licensed CPA firms. Both are described as independent members of Baker Tilly International.

The largest step came in 2025. On 21 April 2025 Accounting Today reported that Baker Tilly, based in Chicago and No. 11 on the magazine’s 2025 Top 100 Firms list, and Seattle’s Moss Adams, No. 12, had agreed to combine under the Baker Tilly name, with Hellman & Friedman making an additional investment and Valeas increasing its own. Latham & Watkins, which advised the lenders on the financing, wrote that the two firms completed their combination on 3 June 2025, creating what it called the sixth largest advisory CPA firm in the US.

The leadership handover followed the plan announced in April. Moss Adams’ chairman and chief executive, Eric Miles, was named chief executive-elect, and the International Accounting Bulletin reported on 8 January 2026 that he had taken over as chief executive, succeeding Jeff Ferro, who stayed on the board of Baker Tilly Advisory Group.

How accounting networks present themselves.

Mid-tier accounting networks are built from independent firms that agree to share a name, standards and referrals. The networks in this guide describe themselves that way: their legal pages typically state that the international body provides no client services and that each member firm is a separate legal entity. The brand therefore has to do a lot of work, because it is often the main thing the member firms have in common.

Their identities tend to be restrained. A plain wordmark, usually set in a sans and paired with one strong colour, carries across dozens of countries and languages, and a short strapline or brand promise often sits beneath it. Many networks have moved from long lists of partners’ surnames to shorter names, initials or a single shared label, and some member firms have dropped their local names to take the network brand.

Their websites follow a common pattern. A global map or country selector leads to member firms; service pages are grouped under audit and assurance, tax and advisory, with industry pages for sectors such as manufacturing, real estate, nonprofits or the public sector. Insight articles on tax changes, regulation and technology fill the news pages, and many networks publish annual revenue figures and awards in press releases.

Two further page types are typical of the profession. Transparency reports, which many audit firms publish, set out governance and quality-control arrangements. Graduate and early-career recruitment pages are prominent too, because recruiting trainees is a constant task for the profession. This guide sets out what can be checked about each brand’s founding, ownership and network, and marks clearly what rests on the firm’s own word.

One name, many separate firms.

The network presents itself through one shared name and a short strapline. In 2019, it says, it introduced the line “Now, for tomorrow”, which still closes its pages; English Wikipedia adds that the same year brought a new logo and visual identity. The network says it has been named Network of the Year at the International Accounting Forum & Awards three times, in 2016, 2023 and 2026, and its about page builds the brand around a partner-led, collaborative approach and the idea that decisions are made close to the client.

Behind the single name sits a deliberately loose structure. English Wikipedia, citing the network’s governance pages, says it is organised in four regions — Asia Pacific; Europe, the Middle East and Africa; Latin America; and North America — each with a chair appointed by the international board. The network’s footer is explicit about ownership of the name: it names Arrandco Investments Limited as the registered owner of the UK trade mark for Baker Tilly, and repeats that Baker Tilly International provides no client services.

That arrangement explains why the same name can sit on firms with very different histories: a Wisconsin practice founded in 1931, a Seattle firm that merged into it in 2025, and member firms in dozens of other countries that keep their own partners, investors and legal identities. The common elements are the name, the strapline and the shared quality and training programmes that the network describes.

For a design guide, Baker Tilly shows how a name borrowed from one British firm can become the label of a global network while the firms underneath stay independent. Compare RSM, the network the former UK Baker Tilly firm joined, and Grant Thornton, another network built on one shared name. For this guide we use a deep teal, an ink navy and a soft mint with a sans, an unofficial interpretation; no product or logo is reproduced.

Keep Baker Tilly’s identity on hand — save it to a board in the Made Good inspiration library.