Saturday, October 28, 2006

Sarbox Pendulum Starts to Swing the Other Way, Just a Little


Mark Olson, Chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (Peekabo) recently made a speech where he laid out four key principles to reduce the burden of Sarbanes Oxley on US public companies...





Thursday, October 26, 2006

Cap Gemini SA (EPA:CAP) PreAnnounces Q3-2006, Buys KanBay


Cap gemini SA (EPA:CAP) announced today that its Q3-2006 revenues of 1.881 billion Euros grew 13.5% over the same quarter last year Q3-2005 (1.674 billion), but 1.9% lower than the previous quarter Q2-2006 (1.915 billion Euros)...




Andersen's Nemesis, Jeff Skilling is Served Due Justice


The wheels of justice grind slowly, but they meted out a just sentence on Jeff Skilling, the former Enron CEO, one of the few people responsible for Andersen's dramatic collapse and foreever changing the accounting firm landscape by reducing the Big 5 to the Big 4... 





Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Grant Thornton Revenue Up 22%, Double the Big4 Rate


Grant Thornton LLP (GT), the U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International, says that its US revenues climbed 22% from $726 million to $886 million in the fiscal year ending July 31, 2006. This follows a 29% increase from $562 million in 2004 to $726 million in 2005...




Deloitte and Touche LLP Revenue Up 12.5% in 2006

Following strong results from Ernst and Young LLP, Deloitte and Touche LLP also announced solid performance with growth across services, sectors and practices.

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Worldwide Member Firms recently reported US$20 billion aggregate member firm revenues for fiscal year 2006, up 11.5% from 2005...



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New Accounting Networks: Can They Compete with the Big4?

Baker Tilly USA
If you have never heard of this firm, it may begin to crop up shortly in US corporate circles. Baker Tilly is one of the top 10 accounting firms in the UK, and now making news by creating Baker Tilly USA with a new business model...


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Monday, October 16, 2006

How do the Big 4 Firms Rank in the Fortune 500?


Accenture (NYSE: ACN) came out 379th in the recent international Fortune 500 2006 ranking. In 2005, Accenture just made the cut with a rank of 455 out of 500.

Accenture's (NYSE: ACN) revenue of $17.1 billion and profit of $940 million makes it rank 3rd in the Computer Services and Software industry behind Microsoft and Electronic Data Systems...

Andersen Alum Moves to Top of UnitedHealth Group, Inc. (NYSE: UNH)


The options scandal has made astonishing inroads into Corporate America affecting tons of executives and toppling CEOs. Companies which have backdated options to benefit senior managers have become investor targets, subject to SEC investigations and generally become poster childs for how hidden white collar crime is rampant in public corporations...



Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Should BearingPoint Remain Public?


Credit ratings agency Moody's recently downgraded Bearing Point (NYSE: BE)'s ratings from B1 to B2, and put them on watch for further potential downgrade. The agency took note of

the firm's year-to-date cash outflows, due to finance and accounting systems costs and of course the inordinate delays in filing its 10-K and last but not least the huge employee turnover seen in Q2 -2006. These ratings are considered speculative...


Friday, October 06, 2006

KPMG Europe LLC: New Entity for a New Pan European Landscape


The European Commission’s Eighth Directive legislation (the EU's effort to increase investor confidence, like the US Sarbox) , which allows cross-country ownerships in accountancy firms had its first impact today. KPMG becomes the first to take advantage among firms representing global accounting networks...



Thursday, October 05, 2006

Ernst & Young LLP Financial Results: Strong Growth in Emerging Economies

Ernst & Young LLP recently released its 2005/2006 fiscal year results (year ending June 30, 2006) worldwide revenues rose 10% in local currency terms to a total of $18.4 billion. E&Y is the first among the private accounting firms to report results, and it does appear that times remain good and growth is rampant in areas outside North America and Western Europe. We will look for other accounting firms to report in the next few months and watch how they differ from these results...
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Wednesday, October 04, 2006

China Aims for Big Ten in Ten Years


We hear that the Chinese finance ministry wants to develop at least 10 full-fledged accountancy firms in the next ten years. The policy: “bigger, stronger, self-reliant”. The goal: be capable of providing comprehensive audit services of world standards in order to reduce reliance on foreign firms, especially the Big 4. These 10 firms would be able to operate internationally and support local Chinese companies which plan to internationalize. Further, 100 medium-size firms would concentrate on the domestic market…..current firms are actively encouraged to merge to create economies of scale...