RSM Australia, one of the largest mid-tier accounting firms in Australia, has announced a number of senior promotions.


This includes the appointment of four new partners, and seven new principals, bringing the total count of partners to 94, and principals to 44.


Jamie O’Rourke, national chairman, RSM Australia, said, “The numerous promotions made across the company highlight that our focus on growth and diversity is working. It’s great to have a good pipeline of talent within the firm, which lets us continue to grow our business and our services to clients.


RSM Australia is focused on building a more balanced, gender diverse organisation so I’m pleased to be able to announce four senior female appointments. We’re aiming to create a more inclusive workplace culture. Our aim is to improve the gender balance of our leadership team of partners and principals, as this will lead to better organisational decisions by our national practice.”


The key promotions are:


  • Murray Calder - Partner (Melbourne), Business Advisory

  • Joanne Gilbert - Partner (Albany), Business Advisory

  • Chris Jas - Partner (Perth), Financial Services

  • Nadine Marke - Partner (Perth), Corporate Finance

  • Mark Anders - Principal (Adelaide), Assurance & Advisory

  • Matthew Berryman - Principal (Merredin), Business Advisory

  • Thiru Kandiah - Principal (Canberra), Business Advisory

  • Mark Nichols - Principal (Sydney), Business Advisory

  • Shane Rogan - Principal (Ballarat), Business Advisory

  • April Silfverberg - Principal (Melbourne), Tax Services

  • Jimmy Smit - Principal (Katanning), Business Advisory

Meet the team


New partners:


Murray Calder – Business Advisory, MelbourneMurray Calder


Murray has more than 15 years’ experience providing timely business, accounting and taxation advice to a wide range of clients, which includes medium-sized businesses and high net wealth families.  Murray focuses on providing advice to businesses and business owners on growth, cash flow management, and succession planning strategies.


Murray focuses on business and taxation structure advice. He has worked with a variety of businesses across a wide range of industries including manufacturing, retail, property development, self-storage, construction, professionals and passive investors.


Joanne Gilbert – Business Advisory, AlbanyJoanne Gilbert


Joanne joined RSM in 2000 with a background in business services and commercial accounting. After six years in the RSM Katanning office, Joanne moved to Albany to manage the Albany office.  Joanne provides taxation consulting and compliance services in business solutions including income tax, capital gains tax and GST, rural accounting, tax planning, succession planning and superannuation consulting.


Chris Jas – Wealth Management, PerthChris Jas


Chris joined RSM in 2005. Chris provides quality advice across a broad spectrum of financial planning topics, with a special interest in investment strategy advice and ongoing portfolio management services, retirement planning strategies, superannuation planning, pre-retirement planning incorporating wealth creation and gearing strategies, personal risk insurances, estate planning and wealth transfer.


Nadine Marke – Corporate Finance, PerthNadine Marke


Nadine leads the litigation support services team with a particular focus on valuations, financial investigations and forensic accounting services. With over 15 years in corporate advisory services, Nadine draws from her experience working across audit, insolvency and corporate finance to achieve the best possible outcomes for her clients.


Nadine regularly presents on valuation topics and is an accredited Business Valuation Specialist of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CAANZ).  She was also recently appointed as the Western Australian representative on the CAANZ Business Valuations Special Interest Group.


New principals


Mark Anders – Assurance & Advisory, AdelaideMark Anders


Mark has 16 years' experience working at various chartered professional firms. He worked at RSM in Adelaide and Melbourne from 1995 to 2008. He returned to the firm in July 2011 after spending two and a half years working in Papua New Guinea. Mark is responsible for managing the financial audits of a range of clients in numerous industries, including medium to large size companies, not for profit associations, trust account audits and various publicly listed audits. 


Matthew Berryman – Business Advisory, MerredinMatthew Berryman


Matthew runs the RSM Merredin office. He is responsible for overseeing the growth and development of business services to clients in the wheatbelt of Western Australia. Matthew joined the firm in 2006 after a 12-year career in banking. He specialises in small business and farming organisations.


Thiru Kandiah – Business Advisory, CanberraThiru Kandiah


Thiru has more than 20 years’ experience in providing small and medium businesses with accounting, superannuation and tax services. She has extensive experience across a range of sectors in providing tax and accounting compliance services and advising on business performance.


Mark Nichols – Business Advisory, SydneyMark Nichols


Mark is has extensive experience working with business owners in a wide range of industries on matters such as asset protection, succession planning and business advisory. Mark also provides out-sourced CFO services to Australian subsidiaries of multinational organisations, assisting them with everything from accounting procedures through to the full finance function and local regulatory compliance requirements


Shane Rogan – Business Advisory, BallaratShane Rogan


Shane has more than 8 years’ experience in providing business advisory, taxation and self-managed superannuation fund advice to a broad range of clients. He has worked with business in different sectors including agribusiness, health and pharmacy. He is a member of the national RSM health advisory committee.  


April Silfverberg – Tax, MelbourneApril Silfverberg


April joined RSM in 2003, providing specialist tax advice and compliance services to a wide range of clients, most being corporate, listed and large private companies which span a variety of industries.  April has over 10 years corporate tax consulting experience covering compliance advisory and transactions.


Jimmy Smit – Business Advisory, KatanningJimmy Smit


Jimmy joined RSM in its Katanning office in 2006 after emigrating from South Africa where he had been involved in his family farming operation. He now manages a client practice consisting of small to medium size business and primary produces. His focus is on business advisory including income tax, capital gains tax and GST, tax planning, succession planning and strategic business planning and advice on business structures.