Big Four Firms Benefit From Strong Growth Outlook In Asia Pacific

Nita Teoh, Big4.com

Jul y 9, 2010

The Asia Pacific Region has been a growth hot-spot for the Big Four firms, as strong increases in the emerging economies in this region has fueled demand for financial and professional services.

As our 2009 Big Four Firms Financial Performance Analysis (available at http://www.big4.com/?page=blog_item&url=the-2009-big-four-firms-performance-analysis-450 or download the entire pdf analysis at http://pdfcast.org/pdf/the-2009-big-four-firms-performance-analysis), shows Asia Pacific has been steadily gaining revenue share over the last six years. 

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

RSM McGladrey: Private Equity More Confident, Focus on Growth and Hiring

Watch private equity to get a good sense of ground-level operating performance and cash flow.

When these typically hard-nosed guys get optimistic, then very likely things are getting better....


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

Arabian Nights Saga Features Big Four Firms

There’s a fascinating story from The Times of London today by Alex Spence, Professional Services Correspondent, on something that seems right out of Arabian Nights, and it goes something like this...

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

KPMG 2009 Revenues of $20 B Drop 11%, Most Among Big Four Firms

KPMG just reported its 2009 combined revenues for the fiscal year ending 30 September 2009 of US$20.11 billion versus US$22.69 billion for the prior 2008 fiscal year. This was a 11.4% decline in U.S. dollars terms and a 2.6% decline in local currency terms...

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

Ernst and Young’s Top Entrepreneurs Maintain Vision Despite Tough Conditions

Entrepreneurs are hardy folks. Undeterred by current circumstances, they are entirely focused on their vision and a rosier tomorrow.

And in this deep and difficult recession, Ernst & Young found that entrepreneur-driven companies are still looking for growth and opportunity in these tough times by adapting their operating methods to set themselves up for market leadership when the economy does turn to the upside...

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

Deloitte Revenues Grow 1% Local Currency, Now Just Behind PricewaterhouseCoopers

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, the global firm, just came out with its fiscal 2009 revenues for the year ending May 31, 2009. 2009 full year global revenue was US$26.1 billion, an actual increase in local currency terms of 1%, but a drop of 4.9% in US dollar terms from 2008. The tough economic climate and appreciating US dollar were the two main factors in 2009 which impacted Deloitte as much as it did other Big Four firms...

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

PwC FY 2009 Revenues Rise Modestly From FY 2008 Despite Tough Environment

PricewaterhouseCoopers just released its FY 2009 global revenues for the year ending June 30, 2009, which came in at US$26.2 billion, a 7.1% decline from the US$28.2 billion in FY 2008 in US dollar terms. However, on local currency terms FY 2009 revenues were actually higher than FY 2008 by a modest 0.2%. These results were clearly impacted by two large macro factors. The global economic crisis put a sudden halt to the multi-year annual growth in revenues as clients withheld spending on professional services. The other impact was FX, as the appreciating dollar over the reporting period resulted in lower US dollars for each unit of local currency leading to a reduction in revenue on US dollar terms from FY 2008 to FY 2009...

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

Deloitte Predicts Flat 2009 US Holiday Retail Sales, And A Lonely Mall Santa

Though there are many signs of economic rebound as we have seen from many recent Big4 firm surveys which are indicating consumer confidence, business recovery and overall growth. But there are equally troublesome spots which are looming on the horizon which say that the recovery is not going to be robust or as smart as everyone would like it to be.

Here’s a somewhat somber forecast from Deloitte on 2009 US holiday sales which is getting a lot of media play.

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

Deloitte, First To Report In 2008, But Apparent Delays in 2009

Last year on July 23, 2008, we blogged the below about Deloitte’s 2008 results for the year July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008. We’re already in September 2009, and we scoured the Deloitte Global and Deloitte US sites for results for the year July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009...




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

Capgemini First Half Flat, But Second Half Expected Down, Sober Outlook

Capgemini recently reported its Q2-2009 results, and while sales for the first half (6 months) for 2009 were flat to the first six months of 2008 at EUR 4.4 billion, profits for 6 months of 2009 were sharply down from 2008. Operating profit for 2009 was EUR 167 million, down almost 40% from operating profit of 2008 of EUR 288 million, and some of this drop was due to restructuring charges in 2009. Operating margin% fell from 7.6% to 6.6%...

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

PwC Finds 2008 Internet Advertising Robust, Growing and Resilient

An industry survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers and sponsored by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) just released today shows that US internet advertising revenue is strong, growing and fairly resilient to the economic slowdown...

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

Capgemini Posts 2008 Revenue Growth of 5pp and Increase in Operating Margin

Capgemini recently posted its full year 2008 financial results, creditable performance given the heavy economic global turmoil that has affected every country and industry all over the world.

2008 revenue at EUR 8.7 billion was up 5% on local currency terms versus 2007 revenue, but was flat on Euro terms to the reported 2007 revenue of EUR 8.7 billion, as the Euro and GB Pound had appreciated against the US dollar at least for the first ten months of 2008. Operating profit as a percentage of revenue actually increased from 7.4% in 2007 to 8.5% in 2008, and operating profit in EUR terms increased from 493 million to 586 million. Capgemini decreased somewhat its cash position, holding EUR 774 million of cash at end of 2008 versus EUR 889 million of cash at end of 2007. Consulting and Outsourcing bookings rose to EUR 9.3 billion in 2008, up 4% from 2007...

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

Big Four Firms Combined Revenues Top $100B, Employment Nearly 600,000!

With KPMG being the last firm to reports its 2008 performance, we can now complete the full financial picture for all the Big Four firms in 2008. The five years from 2004 to 2008 have been some of the best growth years for these firms. In a strong economic environment, with rapid development in the BRIC nations and solid growth in emerging markets, the Big Four firms capitalized on demand for global financial and accounting services to boost their top line and posting a string of back-to-back record performances. Their worldwide reach and ability to offer complex seamless and multi-country services, coupled with need for name-brand public accountants enabled them to grow all their service lines, especially Audit boosted by Sarbanes Oxley regulations in the United States. Growth in Brazil, Russia, India and China was reported at nearly 30+ % each year, as these economies expressed their latent need for professional services.

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

KPMG Revenues Increase 14.5%, Some Credit Crisis Impact, BRICs Shine

KPMG just announced today its 2008 revenues, which have increased 14.5% from US$19.8 billion to US$22.7 billion for the year ending September 30, 2008. In local currency terms growth was only 8.4%, the difference of 6.1% being attributable to the declining US dollar against all major world currencies in this period...



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

Ernst and Young Revenues Rise 16%, Retains Third Place in Big Four

Another Big4 firm reports good performance.

Today, Ernst & Young reported that its worldwide revenues increased to US$24.5 billion for the fiscal year ending 30 June 2008, rising 16.2% in dollar terms and 9.5% in local currency terms from the previous year’s revenue of $21.1 billion. Major factors included gaining new clients, new services sales and ROI in emerging markets, offset somewhat by “audit efficiencies enabled by the new US internal control standard” (which we would assume are clients automating their processes and relying less on E&Y) and economic slowness in many markets...

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

PricewaterhouseCoopers 2008 Revenue Up 14%, Maintains Top Position

PricewaterhouseCoopers just released its 2008 revenue figures for the year ending June 30, 2008. Global revenues were US$28.2 billion, increasing at 8% at constant foreign exchange rates and 14% at variable exchange rates, since the US dollar plummeted against foreign currencies during this period. In USD reporting terms, 2008 revenues of $28.2 billion did grow 14% from 2007 revenues of $24.7 billion. With this, PwC remains the top dog among Big Four firms...

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

Club Med? No! Euro-Mediterranean . The next investment frontier

Ernst & Young’s BaroMed survey has recently found that the Euro-Mediterranean zone has good potential for significant growth opportunities for international investors. This zone has 17 countries: France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Malta, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon and Syria. This group ranks third among the world’s regions in terms of GDP and among the top three for foreign direct investment (FDI)...

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

Big Four Firms Report Tremendous 2007 Results

The Big4.com 2007 Firms Performance Analysis

The Big Four accounting firms had a banner year in 2007 with double-digit revenue growth on the heels of strong performances in 2006 and 2005. KPMG had the highest annual growth rate among the firms with 17.4%, followed by Deloitte at 15.5%, Ernst and Young at 15% and PricewaterhouseCoopers bringing up the rear at 14.4%. Despite this relatively slower growth, PwC remains the planet’s largest accounting firm with 2007 revenues of $25.2 billion, ahead of Deloitte at $23.1 billion, E&Y at $21.1 billion with KPMG being relatively the smallest firm at $19.8 billion...

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