Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Stocks Routed: ACN, BE, CAP.PA Slide Down Big


Stocks got whacked globally today, from a 9% drop in China to a 414 drop in the Dow Industrials. There was just a sea of red with really no place to hide, except in cash or shorts...





Monday, February 26, 2007

PricewaterhouseCoopers Delivers the News:Less Welcome Than Usual


The PricewaterhouseCoopers auditors (green-shades, according to popular press) did show up at the Oscars yesterday with their sealed envelopes and armed guards following 70 years of tradition in sending, receiving, counting, auditing and determining the winners...



Sunday, February 25, 2007

Accenture (NYSE: ACN) Match Play - Stenson Wins Today


Henrik Stenson today beat Geoff Ogilvy the reigning champion to capture the World Golf Championships-Accenture (NYSE: ACN) Match Play Championship.


Along the way Stenson defeated Zach Johnson, K.J. Choi, Aaron Baddeley, Nick OHern, Trevor Immelman, and finally Geoff Ogilvy



Deloitte to Pay $130 Million to Parmalat Shortly


We earlier blogged that Deloitte had settled with Parmalat to pay US $149 million for its role in the bankruptcy of the Italian dairy company.


Now we understand it is time to pay....Parmalat SpA says that Deloitte have a few days to come up with the money, and apparently Deloitte will pay $130 million as a first installment...


KPMG Criminal Indictment Dismissal Remains

Another bit of news on KPMG


KPMG's escape as a firm from ciminal indictment remains as U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska dismissed objections of ex partners who have been charged criminally with promoting illegal tax shelters...





Michael Rake, KPMG Chairman Switches to BT


Sir Michael Rake, KPMG International's current chairman will be succeeding Sir Christopher Bland as British Telecom chairman in September 2007. Sir Michael is 59 years old and been with KPMG for 33 years.


Now, the interesting part of this transition is that Sir Michael will take a huge pay cut from £3.6 million in 2006 down to Sir Christopher's basic salary of £500,000 plus pension contribution of £32,000. That's almost a 75% decrease...


Sunday, February 18, 2007

PwC Auditors Defend Oscar Secrets - James Bond Style


Variety.com, the Hollywood magazine and website has a very interesting article on PricewaterhouseCoopers' role in all the secrecy and glitz surrounding the Oscar Awards. Here is a summary with our twist, the original article from Andrew Barker is an excellent read at ...   







Saturday, February 17, 2007

Deloitte Head to Become Governer of Hungary Central Bank

A Deloitte Partner makes headlines in Hungary.

We hear that Andras Simor, country head of Deloitte and Touche LLP since 2002 will be appointed as the next governor of Hungary's central bank. He will take the job in March 2007 when Zsigmond Jarai, the current governor's term expires. Mr. Simor is a non-political appointee, thus somewhat immune from partisan plays plaguing Hungary.

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Friday, February 16, 2007

KPMG on WSJ's Front Page: Continued Fascination with the Big Four


David Reilly has a fascinating article on KPMG LLP which featured yesterday on the home page of the Wall Street Journal. It is heartening to see Big Four firms getting top coverage (some good and some bad) on the nation's most widely read business newspaper...




Wednesday, February 14, 2007

CapGemini on Buying Spree


CapGemini is on an acquisition rampage, especially in the US


After acquiring Kanbay for 1.25 billion, it recently announced the acquisition of Chicago-based Software Architects which has sales of 68 million...





Accenture Match-Play Golf Next Week, Kicks off Golf Season


The Accenture Match Play Championship starts next week in Tuscon AZ, the first time it is going to be played in the state after the decision to move the championships last year from Carlsbad, CA. 64 of the world’s top golfers, from 18 countries and 6 six continents will tee off at the South Course at The Gallery Golf Club at Dove Mountain in Marana, Ariz.






Saturday, February 03, 2007

BearingPoint Gets New COO, Ed Harbach

We notice that BearingPoint (NYSE: BE) has recently appointed a new President and COO, Ed Harbach, reporting to Harry You, CEO. Interestingly Ed Harbach also comes from Accenture, we believe where Harry You also spent some time as CFO. He is being awarded around 900,000 restricted stock units to vest over four years. BE stock has been flat recently, so if things turn around, there can be good upside for Mr. Harbach...



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Pricewaterhouse LLP Behind Oscar Award Glamour

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recently sent out Oscar Award nomination ballots to more than 5,000 of its members (precisely 5,380) for the upcoming 79th Academy Awards. Nominations are due back in on February 20th. The event is on February 25th at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. Tell-it-like-it-is comedian Ellen DeGeneres will be the host.


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