Sir Ronald Leach was a prominent British accountant with a distinguished career. He served as senior partner of Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co., which later evolved into KPMG, and was president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) during a period of professional scandals, where he led the institute's first steering committee to develop accounting standards amid calls for reform. Leach had a military background as an officer in the Royal Air Force during World War II, based in Egypt, where he sustained wounds but continued to excel postwar. He was appointed by the government as a joint inspector for the Department of Trade and Industry into Robert Maxwell's Pergamon Press, contributing to key investigations into corporate practices. His influence as one of the foremost accountants and advisers of his era is noted in histories of KPMG and financial accounting, particularly during times of increasing competition and globalization.