We Are...About Blick Rothenberg:
Helmut Rothenberg OBE 1915-2003

Helmut Rothenberg OBE was born on the 22 January 1915 and arrived to Britain from Frankfurt, Germany in 1933. He founded Blick Rothenberg as a sole practitioner on 1 July 1945 operating then, from rented rooms in Copthall Avenue in the City. The Institute of Chartered Accountants now occupies this site.

Apart from establishing a successful accounting practice and pursuing a variety of other interests, Helmut provided continuing and extensive support for a number of charities including MENCAP. He was extremely interested in music and provided support to various musical charities including the Glyndebourne Musical Preparation Scheme. In December 1990 he was appointed an officer of the Order of the British Empire for Charitable Services. In November 1999 he was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration by the University of East London.

Hemut's values and principles will live on in Blick Rothenberg's work and it is with fond memories that he is remembered by his children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, family, friends and colleagues.

You may wish to read the following speech made by Helmut Rothenberg to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Blick Rothenberg that follows.

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Address by Helmut Rothenberg at a gathering of Partners and Staff of Blick Rothenberg at 12 York Gate, Regent’s Park
London NW1 on Friday 30 th June 1995

Ladies and Gentlemen

Someone once said ‘A man’s memory may almost become the art of his varying and misrepresenting his past continually according to his interests in the present.’

Today sees the completion of 50 years in the existence of Blick Rothenberg and my congratulations go out to everyone concerned. Having been requested to relate how all this came about I promise to be truthful but I must ask for your indulgence for about a quarter of an hour.

The minds of the older ones amongst us will go back to the events of 50 years ago when the evil regime in Germany came to an end. On V E Day in 1945 as you will have learned recently, I, with many of my contemporaries, joined the crowds which thronged The Mall towards the gates of Buckingham Palace. A trauma which had determined our lives for 12 years had gone; there was no longer a Hitler in this world. The way seemed to be paved for a different style of life.

For anyone who lived in London through the ‘blitz’, the experiences will be engraved on their memories forever. The eerie wail of sirens warning of a coming air-raid and when it was over, the high pitched shriek of the ‘All Clear’; the crashing sound of a bomb which had exploded nearby with all the misery which it had caused; the piercing whistle of a ‘doodle bug’ approaching, not knowing when and where it would come down; and the deafening clatter of our anti-aircraft guns. The camaraderie of the shelters, the emergency food boxes; the coming out on to the streets to find them littered with often still hot shards of twisted metal, pavements crunchy under foot with shattered windows. All this was now behind us, but conditions were tough and money was short.

Having arrived in this country on the 1 st April 1933 as a Jewish refugee from Germany aged 18, became articled (as it was then called) to a small firm of Chartered Accountants in the City. My Principal, the Senior Partner, was an austere looking Yorkshireman, a hard taskmaster from whom I learned a great deal; book keeping – he used to say – ‘Elmut, if you treat the books, the books will treat you’ – how to write a good business letter – ‘never assume that the recipient is less intelligent than you’ but most importantly, how NOT to run a professional firm.

This man had been a high-ranking officer during the first World War and was no friend of the Germans. I never found out whether he liked me or not but he certainly did not like my German name. He told me how clever it had been for the Battenberg family to change their name to Mountbatten and suggested that I should do a similar thing. However, I resisted – if I had not done so we would be called ‘Blick Mountrotten’!

At the outbreak of war I joined another firm of Chartered Accountants and for much of the time spent there I was engaged in the settling of War Damage Claims with the Board of Trade. Any business which had suffered losses due to enemy action was entitled to be compensated by the Government. I was in what was called a ‘Reserved Occupation’ and until 30 th June 1945 could not make a change, not even to join the forces.

However, as from 1st July 1945 all restrictions were abolished and a completely new way of life began for me. On that day – I was 30 at the time - I founded our firm, as Blick Rothenberg & Co and remained at its head for 44 years until my retirement from the partnership six years ago today. I rented a small suite of rooms in Copthall House, Copthall Avenue, in the City. Copthall House has since disappeared -the ground where it stood is now part of the new building of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. The rent was £300 pa, which I could not afford, so the one large room was let to a client at half the cost.

The work consisted in the main of what we called ‘brown paper parcel’ jobs, i.e. assembling a variety of incomplete records from which Accounts had to be prepared. As we progressed, and we became more choosy, the quality of the jobs improved. You can imagine what the Cash Flow was like! Once I was desperate for the need of £5 to take home and asked a client to advance this sum on account of fees. ‘Why?’ he asked. ‘Because I have to live!’ I answered. ‘Why?’ he said!

I had left my previous employers on very good terms which stood me in good stead. My ex-boss introduced clients to me in the cases where, for various reasons, he could not deal with the particular matter himself – the Woods of Colchester connection dates back to those days – and when it came to his own retirement he came to me for advice.

Bernard Blick, who was not an accountant, was a friend and colleague of mine in the firm by whom we both had been employed. He ran their insurance broking (now called Financial Services) department. He too wanted to be independent, and joined me upon my invitation. We stayed together for about four years after which he left taking the insurance broking business with him and leaving the accountancy practice to me. I never changed the name of the firm. Bernard was successful, we stayed good friends introducing clients to one another until he died 22 years ago, when David and I acted as his executors and sold his business to Stephensons who became our insurance brokers, and still are.

We started from very small beginnings indeed. Even taking inflation into account you will find the figures which I shall give you unbelievable, but they are true. In our first year of existence the total fee income was £2,061, having sent out 56 bills to 36 clients. In those days I was the junior and the senior clerk, the manager and the partner. I checked the books –in those cases where I did not keep them myself, carried out the audit where appropriate, discussed the Accounts with the client, typed them and corresponded with the Inspector of Taxes.

You will be astonished to hear that even after seven years the fee income was still less than £12,000.

My first employee was a lady, 18 years young, Joyce Dorothy Grover, an intelligent, able and pleasant girl, who joined me as secretary in 1946. She had worked on a counter at a City branch of Barclays Bank and complained to me, while I was paying in my few pounds, that she was over worked and under paid. Her salary was £3 per week and there was little chance of increase. I offered her £3.10.0 per week and she accepted. She stayed with me for 16 years until the arrival of her second daughter.

As time went on I managed to get more work than I could handle myself. I applied to a Government Agency for professional ex-service persons for an Accountant and as consequence, in October 1947 Phil Phillips joined me as my first clerk. Apart from the fact that Phil competently dealt with all the work which had accumulated, and developed into a first rate accountant, he was a wonderful colleague and friend. Phil, whose activities were legendary to all who knew him, stayed with us for nearly 35 years, becoming a partner and retiring at a comparatively early age. Unfortunately he died three years ago. Much of the goodwill which was created in the early days was due to his wise counsel and his delightful personality.

When my brother, Henry, was demobilised from the army in December 1946 after 7 years of military service, he joined me as a partner and for many years it was one of the great pleasures of my life to share with him the worries and hard work, good times and bad, and success in building up various commercial enterprises which in turn benefited Blick Rothenberg. He died tragically in January 1968, aged 51, at the height of his career. I do not wish to be sentimental or in any way mar the cheerful spirit of this occasion, but I must mention that it leaves a gap with me – and I know also with others here – that Henry is not with us today. He would want all of us to be happy and proud and would approve of this modest celebration in this elegant building.

In 1948 the landlord of Copthall House increased the rent from £300 pa to £600 pa but this we could not afford so we moved offices to 3 Oxford Street, initially occupying 3 rooms on the 2 nd floor, over Barclays Bank. Some time afterwards Michael Kevehazi, then aged 21, qualified, married and with a baby daughter, a most able accountant, had come and he stayed for 16 years until his emigration to Israel. While in Oxford Street, we were joined by a number of others of which I would only mention Mrs Lewent, Reg Allen, Don Hird, Stan Eley and most importantly, Alfred Homburger. Alfred had not much earlier arrived in London from Johannesburg and was employed in a job which he disliked. I well remember the time I first interviewed him in my home. Somehow I was impressed and I was pleased when Alfred accepted the job which I had offered him and he began work with the firm on the 1 st April 1956. I really do not have to say much more; the fact that Alfred succeeded me as Senior Partner speaks for itself. I consider Blick Rothenberg to be most fortunate to have as its leader a man of such ability and wisdom. I have been challenged by his intellect, inspired by his integrity and led by his example. He is dedicated to his profession, concerned for the welfare of his clients, loyal to his associates and, above all, a person who brought to his profession a high sense of ethics coupled with the qualities of human decency. I am grateful to him, as indeed I am to all other partners, for the help, loyalty and friendship which has been extended to me over the many years of our association, and it is with great pleasure and satisfaction that, due to my colleagues’ loyalty and kindness, I continue to attend the office on a daily basis.

By 1962, apart from the banking hall of 3 Oxford Street we had taken over the whole building but with the increase of personnel we were bursting at the seams and as Barclays Bank could not be persuaded to move, we moved to 7 Fitzroy Square from where we came here some 10 years ago. There are others amongst us who will tell you what life at Fitzroy Square was like, but I can say that while we had our ups and downs – and plenty of the latter – the firm really developed largely as a consequence of the activities of all those who in the meantime had become partners and senior executives. In all, we had interesting, happy and lucrative 23 years in Fitzroy Square and again it was lack of space which caused us to leave.

Some of you have asked me to explain why the word ‘Noble’ used to be in our Firm’s name until my retirement. As a matter of fact one of my friends in Canada, when being notified to the effect that I would retire on 30 th June 1989, and the name of the firm would be shortened to ‘Blick Rothenberg’ sent a fax which said: - ‘HR retires and the firm becomes less noble.’

Eric Noble, a Manchester Chartered Accountant, was introduced to me in the 1960s. Eric had left the profession, was anxious to get back into it but he did not dare to do it by himself. He told me that if I were to back him he could build up a successful practice in Manchester. I agreed and Eric Noble & Rothenberg rented beautiful office premises in the heart of Manchester.

I travelled to Manchester for the opening. Eric had bought a desk for me standing in the private office which he occupied. With great expectations I sat at ‘my’ desk. The clients were to be prominent Manchester business people, others were to come from his political friends and his contacts in the Boy Scout movement.

Exactly one year later I went to Manchester again and sat at my desk for the second and last time. Eric had not acquired a single client in twelve months and consequently the fee income of our Manchester office was nil.

I closed the Manchester office and offered Eric a salaried partnership in London which he accepted. Thus we were henceforth known as Blick Rothenberg & Noble. Eric stayed with us for a number of years after which he left to practice on his own.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It seems like yesterday that I was young and yet I am 80. A lifetime of happiness and tears. 50 years ago I set out to build a practice not merely to make money. A firm like ours has its responsibilities not only to its partners but also to the staff, the clients, and in some measure, to the whole community in which it exists. Unless it gives satisfaction and happiness to all concerned, it will fail in its aim in the long run. Long term success calls for a simple human approach.

We live in an increasingly competitive world. The competition is based on innovation with all that this implies. We have made good progress over the years, but in order to continue to attract further partners and staff of the right calibre as well as new work of the right nature and compete successfully, the firm needs to generate profits and commercial resources on a scale which modern conditions will demand.

Although the world is a very different place today from what it was 50 years ago, nothing has changed to make what I have said less true. You are a splendid team, well balanced with the correct blend of knowledge, drive, common sense, judgement and commercial acumen. Despite everyone’s obsession with systems, at the end of the day it is people who matter and who still provide the power, the energy and the efficiency to make the systems work. I am convinced that you will continue to be successful in the years which lie ahead.

Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak to you all. I propose a toast to the Firm, its Partners and Staff and all its associates for a happy and successful future.

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