The left–right operator splitting method is studied for the efficient calculation of acoustic fields scattered by arbitrary rough surfaces. Here, the governing boundary integral is written as a sum of left- and right-going components, and the solution expressed as an iterative series, expanding about the predominant direction of propagation. Calculation of each term is computationally inexpensive both in time and memory, and the field is often accurately captured using one or two terms. The convergence and accuracy are examined by comparison with exact solution for smaller problems, and a series of much larger problems are tackled. The method is also immediately applicable to other scatterers such as waveguides, of which examples are given.