Sunday, September 28, 2008

Big Four Take Leadership Role in World Economic Forum

The Big Four firm Chairmen are key players in the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of New Champions in Tianjin, China. Deloitte and Touche, Ernst and Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers are key Mentors of the program, while KPMG was noticeably missing...

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Friday, September 26, 2008

Accenture (NYSE: ACN) Q4-2008 Profits Shine, Stock up 6% in Down Market


And The Accenture Machine Keeps Rolling On!


Crisis? Slowdown?

What crisis? Where slowdown?

You would not believe your senses on Accenture’s results reported yesterday. Q4-2008 profits of 57 cents grew 34% from 50 cents from prior year quarter and actually beat analysts' expectations by a penny. The company forecasts further growth in the year ahead. According to Accenture, more clients are looking for its consulting and outsourcing services despite a weak economy and terrible financial markets...




BearingPoint (NYSE: BE) Stock Price Hits All Time Low – 50 Cents

On September 19, 2008 just a week ago, BearingPoint (NYSE: BE) stock hit a new 52 week and all-time low of just 50 cents a share. Based on the 218 shares outstanding, the market capitalization on that day was only $109 million. Add this to about $650 million in debt to come to an enterprise value of $759 million...



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Nomura Buys Lehman Brothers Europe for $2, PwC Adminstrators


Earlier, we had blogged about Nomura of Japan buying the equities and investment banking business of Lehman Brothers Europe for an undisclosed amount. PricewaterhouseCoopers UK were appointed the administrators of this bankrupt firm to assure an orderly disposal...




Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Big Four Make Working Mothers Magazine Best Companies List

Three of the Big Four firms have made the Top 10 of the latest Working Mother magazine rankings for Best Companies for Working Mothers. Ernst and Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers made it into the elite group of 10 best companies which provide mom-friendly part-time career paths for working mothers. Deloitte and Accenture didn’t make the top 10 but surely made in the top 100. BearingPoint was conspicuously missing, and Capgemini didn’t make the list either, more so since it didn’t fall into the covered US company universe...


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Tuesday, September 23, 2008

PwC Administrators Help Sell Lehman Europe to Nomura


As we blogged earlier, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP are the joint administrators to Lehman Brothers International Europe (‘Lehman Brothers’), and today’s announcement on the PwC UK website and over all financial newswires generally is that the investment banking and equities businesses of Lehman Brothers are being sold to Nomura of Japan. The deal covers investment banking and equities in the Netherlands, Qatar, Dubai, Kuwait, the U.K., Italy, Germany and Sweden, but excludes trading assets or trading liabilities...




Friday, September 19, 2008

US Financial Crisis Impacts Big Four Firm Audit Fees


The current financial crisis in the US has taken a big toll on some storied companies in the recent few months, with unimaginable consequences for the entire financial sector. Consider this:


FannieMae (NYSE:FNM) and FreddieMac (NYSE:FRE) are now under US government conservatorship
Bear Stearns (NYSE:BSC) was purchased for a pittance by JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM)
Merrill Lynch (NYSE:MER) sold itself to Bank of America (NYSE:BAC)
Lehman Brothers went bankrupt recently (NYSE:LEH)...




PricewaterhouseCoopers Winds Down Lehman Brothers UK


Following the still-surprising collapse of Lehman Brothers over last weekend, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP was appointed as joint administrators to Lehman Brothers International (Europe) the following Monday, September 15, 2008. Specifically, four PwC partners Tony Lomas, Steven Pearson, Dan Schwarzmann and Mike Jervis have been appointed as leaders of this effort to wind down the business in an orderly fashion...





Friday, September 12, 2008

Deloitte USA to Layoff 900, 2% of US Staff, Impacted by Economy Slowdown


We are a little late on this, but WebCPA and Wall Street Journal report that Deloitte USA plans to layoff 900 staff or about 2% of its 45,000 US employees, according to their spokesperson Deborah Harrington. There seems to be no official statement that at least we can find on the Deloitte.com website. But we finally did personally see the Wall Street Journal article...





Saturday, September 06, 2008

Big Four Firm Get Top Spots in Business Week Best Career Companies Ranking

Great news for Big Four Alumni! You made the right choice for your career.



Business Week Magazine just came out with its list of “100 Best Places to Launch A Career in 2008.” And all four of the Big Four firms this year are in the top 5 of that list, the only other is the ultra prestigious investment banking firm of Goldman Sachs...




Wednesday, September 03, 2008

KPMG’s World Job Fair on September 24th – Attend Right from Your PC!

We were browsing KPMG’s website and came across the upcoming KPMG World Job Fair, virtually available on the internet from 24 to 26 September 2008, and an interesting event for all Big4 alumni who wish to learn more about KPMG people and career options...



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