Thursday, February 25, 2010

The Big Four Group at LinkedIn Crosses Membership Landmark

At 20,000+ members, one of the largest networking groups for Big 4 Firm alumni and professionals

New York (PRWEB) February 23, 2010 -- Big4.com, the premier social networking forum for alumni and professionals of Accenture, Andersen, BearingPoint, Capgemini, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers announced today that its LinkedIn.com sponsored group, the “Big Four Firms Alumni & Professionals Global Network”, (http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=1022) has exceeded a landmark level of 20,000 group members. This group is now ranked fifth of over 90,000 alumni groups, and in the top 150 (top 0.3%) of over 500,000 LinkedIn group of all categories....




SEC Reaffirms IFRS Commitment, But Pushes Adoption Out To 2015



The SEC just released a statement on IFRS which shows its supportive position and reaffirms its belief in that a single set of high-quality globally accepted accounting standards would benefit U.S investors, thus actively encouraging the convergence of U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (U.S. GAAP) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Also, the SEC directed a committee led by Chief Accountant, James Kroeker (ex KPMG partner) to prepare a Work Plan, to figure out all the implications of the use of IFRS by U.S. companies, taking into account current state and eventual completion of various "convergence projects" between U.S. and international accounting standards-setters....






Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Huron's Shares Dive on Tepid 2010 Revenue Outlook


Huron Consulting Group Inc. just released its full year 2009 financial numbers, with full year 2009 revenues of $663.9 million (before reimbursable expenses), growing 7.9% from full year 2008 revenues of $573.8 million (before reimbursable expenses). For the Q4-2009 quarter, revenues of $162.9 million, decreased 0.7% from Q4-2008 revenues of $164.0 million. On a GAAP basis, full year 2009 net income was a loss of $(32.9) million compared to a net income of $10.1 million for full year 2008. On a per share basis, full year 2009 was a loss of $(1.63) compared to full year 2008 diluted earnings per share of $0.53. Dragging 2009 net income lower was a 2009 goodwill impairment charge of $67.0 million and restatement-related expenses of $17.5 million...




Friday, February 19, 2010

KPMG Hires Yvo De Boer High Profile UN Climate Change Leader


This is a big surprise for all, as people grapple with a recent announcement that Yvo De Boer, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, will be leaving his position to join KPMG....


We've moved. Click here to go to the full post at the new Big Four Blog at Big4.com!


Non-Big Four Firms Increase Focus on Revenue Growth Strategies

Our staff writer Scott Cytron, reviews below the strategies non-Big Four firms are using to increase revenues in this environment....

We've moved. Click here to go to the full post at the new Big Four Blog at Big4.com!


Thursday, February 18, 2010

Capgemini FY 2009 and Positive Outlook Makes Shares Zoom

Capgemini S.A. just released its full year 2009 audited results today, with 2009 revenues at EUR 8.371 billion down 3.9% from 2008 revenues of EUR 8.710 billion in Euro terms. On constant currency terms, 2009 revenues were down 5.5% from 2008.


Thursday, February 11, 2010

Ultra-Secretive Oscar Ballot Count At PricewaterhouseCoopers For 76 Continuous Years





We blog about the Oscars and PricewaterhouseCoopers each year, check out our previous blog posts below:







This year, the 82nd Annual Academy Awards will be given out Sunday evening, March 7, 2010, just a few weeks away, and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP counts ballots again for the 76th consecutive year for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The two audit partners, Brad Oltmanns and Rick Rosas will again lead the process, and you will note these two gentleman generally carrying a black briefcase on the red carpet (we’ve seen them occasionally) just before all the awards are given They have the distinction of being the only two people in the world to know the true identity of winners before the envelopes are opened...






Wednesday, February 10, 2010

We Talk Climate Change With PricewaterhouseCoopers

Climate change has increasingly become an important global concern, impacting individuals, companies and even governments, as everyone tries to understand their part in reducing greenhouse gas emissions....



Monday, February 08, 2010

Protiviti Responds to Tough Financial Crisis, Now More Bullish



Protiviti, as many will recall, was principally Andersen’s internal audit service line, and these professionals joined the multi-billion dollar organization Robert Half International ($RHI) in 2002 to form their own division, separate from the staffing units for which RHI is better known for – Accountemps, Office Team and Management Resources. Starting with just over 700 employees in 25 locations, Protiviti has certainly grown in size and scope, and now is a global business consulting and internal audit firm providing risk, advisory, and transaction services; with 2,500 professionals in 62 locations in 17 countries worldwide. The Protiviti division accounts for 13% of total parent company RHI revenues; and within Protiviti itself, international operations were 30% of total Protiviti revenues....



Thursday, February 04, 2010

PricewaterhouseCoopers And Satyam: Recent Twists and Turns


We have blogged earlier about PricewaterhouseCoopers, the official auditors of Satyam, the Indian IT firm, scalded by the scam perpetrated by its Chairman Ramalinga Raju. Since then, Satyam has been bought by Tech Mahindra and Deloitte has been hired as the new statutory auditors. All this has happened in a space of one year, with Ramalinga Raju being arrested on January 9, 2009, he is reportedly in the hospital now, though his brother and the Satyam CFO and other key officials are still imprisoned...


The Next Four: BDO, RSM, Grant Thornton and Baker Tilly. And A Surprise


We recently published our extensive financial analysis on the Big Four Firms (read here,  download here), and with some recent revenue announcements by the next set of firms, here is a brief overview of The Next Four, the second set of international but smaller accounting firms...



Tuesday, February 02, 2010

Ernst and Young Says Companies Tiptoeing Into 2010, Still Nervous

Ernst and Young just came out with some survey results which suggest that the overwhelmingly positive outcomes we have seen from recent PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG global surveys needs to be tempered with a bit of caution...




Monday, February 01, 2010

Ernst And Young Finds IPOs Perking Up As Capital Markets Improve

Coming on the heels of two executive confidence surveys by other Big Four firms, which corroborate general increase in optimism, here’s another data point, this time from the capital markets which further confirms that recovery is imminent....