James Marwick

The young Marwick qualified as a chartered accountant, and began his accounting practice in Glasgow, and travelled to Australia to conduct a bank examination for a group of Scottish investors during the Australian banking crisis of 1893.

[2] Marwick later travelled from Australia to Canada and, impressed with business opportunities in North America and cultivating banking clients, he went to the United States in 1894 and began looking for a partner.

[2] Marwick and Roger Mitchell, schoolmates from the University of Glasgow, literally ran into each other on a New York City street in 1897.

Percy Garrett, who ran the London office, once wrote that the tireless Marwick travelled as many as 15,000 miles a year.

[3] Marwick retired in 1917, handing the reins to Mitchell, who took over as senior partner and stayed on until 1925 when the firm joined with William Barclay Peat & Co. to form Peat, Marwick & Mitchell.