Kreston Global Brand Guidelines: A London Network of Independent Firms Since 1971

A German firm, a British firm and a shared name.

Kreston Global is a network of independent accounting firms based in London. English Wikipedia dates it to 1971, when it was formed in London by Gabriel Brösztl and Michael Ross, after the German firm Bansbach, then led by Brösztl, formed a relationship with the British firm Finnie. The first member firm added after that, Wikipedia says, was Groupe Fiduciaire Kreston in Paris, and by 1981 the group had six firms, in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, West Germany, Denmark, France and Sweden.

Wikipedia says the group set up a formal structure by 1991. Brösztl served as chairman for 29 years before standing down in 2000. Clive Stevens, whom Wikipedia describes as chairman of the British firm Kreston Reeves, held the role from 2001 to 2012, and Franck Parker, chief executive of Exco France, took it in 2012. The network expanded into mainland China in 2001, according to the same article.

For much of its life the network traded as Kreston International. The International Accounting Bulletin used that name in November 2013, when it reported that the north-west England firm Mitchell Charlesworth, with offices in Chester, Liverpool, Manchester, Warrington and Widnes, had joined. In January 2019 a press release carried by MENAFN described Kreston International Limited as a global network of independent accounting firms headquartered in the United Kingdom, as the Dubai firm Morison Menon took the name Kreston Menon. Its partners described the step as moving “from an Association to a Network,” with member firms more closely integrated across borders. By 2026 the network and the trade press used the name Kreston Global.

Members, not branches.

Kreston Global is not one firm. Wikipedia says each member is an independent practice with sole responsibility for its own work, staff and clients, and that the network is headquartered in London. Its figures there are 160 independent firms in 114 countries, with 830 offices and more than 27,000 people, and it says the International Accounting Bulletin’s annual survey ranked Kreston the thirteenth largest network of accounting, auditing and consulting firms. The Bulletin itself, in May 2026, described a network of more than 155 member firms across more than 800 offices in more than 110 countries.

Growth has come firm by firm, and sometimes by whole national groups. In 2008, Wikipedia says, Exco France, a network of 23 independent French firms with correspondents in 11 French-speaking African countries, joined, along with members in Poland, the West Indies, New Caledonia and Réunion; Costa Rica was added that year to a Central American group that already included El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Firms in the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands joined in 2015, firms in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Lebanon followed in 2022, and Kreston Pedabo in Nigeria came in 2023. In 2025, the same article says, the network opened an office in Luanda, Angola, and added firms in Jordan and the Eastern Caribbean.

Recent additions reported in the trade press include SAR Associates of Kathmandu, a chartered accountancy practice founded in 2002, which the International Accounting Bulletin reported in May 2026 as the network’s newest member, giving it a presence in Nepal. Kreston Global’s chief executive, Liza Robbins, was quoted welcoming the firm. In the United States, Accounting Today wrote in April 2026, the network’s most prominent member is CBIZ of Cleveland.

Wikipedia says Kreston became a full member of the Forum of Firms in 2011; the 2019 press release described the Forum as an association of international networks of accounting firms.

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.

Tax, legal and a schools report.

Beyond audit and accounting, the network organises its specialists in groups. In April 2026 Accounting Today reported that Kreston Global had created a Global Legal Group, bringing together legal professionals from across the network and working alongside its existing Global Tax Group, led by Mark Taylor. In its first phase, the magazine wrote, the legal group would map legal expertise across member firms, identify specialisations and help firms work together for clients with international interests; it is co-chaired by lawyers from Kreston Iberaudit in Spain and Delfs & Partner in Germany. Accounting Today noted that legal services are more common for accounting networks in Europe and other regions than in the United States, where most CPA firms are barred from running law firms.

The network also has a long-running publication in Britain. Wikipedia says the Kreston Academies Benchmark Report, launched in 2012, is an annual joint publication assessing the finances of 1,400 academy schools in 300 academy trusts.

The name works at two levels. Some member firms add Kreston to their own names — Kreston Reeves, James Cowper Kreston, Kreston Menon, Kreston Iberaudit — while others, such as CBIZ and Delfs & Partner, appear under their own names in the reports above.

For a design guide, Kreston Global shows how one name can hold together more than 150 independent firms that keep their own identities. Compare CBIZ, its most prominent American member according to Accounting Today, and RSM, another network built from independent firms. For this guide we use a deep navy, a slate blue and a warm coral with a sans, an unofficial interpretation; no product or logo is reproduced.

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