Ernst and Young: Glamour and Secrecy in Upcoming 2009 Emmy Awards

We have blogged earlier about PricewaterhouseCoopers’ auditing of the Oscar Movie Academy Awards, which the firm has been solely handling for 75 years in complete secrecy with undisclosed locations, strict controls and tight personnel regulations.

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Deloitte UK and PwC UK Revenues Flat, Showing Tough External Conditions

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP UK just reported its annual results for the year ending June 30, 2009 and with Deloitte LLP UK reporting its annual results for the year ending May 31, 2009, we have now two data points to understand better how the mid-2008 to mid-2009 period is shaping up for the Big Four firms. Please note that the UK firms are not representative of the entire firms, but they are certainly indicative and the data does arrive close to their year ends, while the Big Four firms seem to have the latitude, as private partnerships, to report their annual results months after the year is closed at a timing of their choice.

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Big Four Firms Are Best Places To Launch A Career, Again

BusinessWeek just released its 2009 rankings of its much-anticipated “2009 Best Places To Launch A Career” list and for a second year, Big Four firms completely dominate the list, capturing the top four spots in the rankings. This year, only 69 companies made the list compared to 119 in 2008 due to more stringent criteria, making the 2009 list “both more exclusive and more competitive.” Thus, this year, there was more relative competition to make the list and this year’s rankings are at least 40% tougher than the previous year.

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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...




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PricewaterhouseCoopers UK: Total Lehman Europe Claims May Exceed $100 Billion

PricewaterhouseCoopers UK issued this official PwC statement on their PwC UK website updating their efforts in the administration of Lehman Brothers International (Europe)

"The parent company, Lehman Brothers Holding Inc, and its various USA subsidiaries that are in Chapter 11, have all established a deadline for claims to be submitted in the next few weeks. We're dealing with a large number of entities and therefore the claims could be as much as $100 billion. These claims are exceptionally complex and we anticipate a large amount of further work in dealing with these claims. This is a normal part of the bankruptcy claims formulation and submission process. A significant number of claims arise as a result of guarantees issued by the parent company to its subsidiaries globally.


"We have invested a significant amount of time helping administrators in other affiliates understand the Lehman accounting systems so that we can all agree a standard approach to the reconciliation of inter company balances. If this can be achieved then it should reduce the likelihood of affiliates suing each other in pursuit of amounts that are owed between the different Lehman estates."

$100 Billion! That is an enormous number, and close to the 2008 GDP of the country of Kuwait. In bankruptcy though claimants likely only get cents on the dollar so in effect the actual monies coming back may be much more moderate.

Once you get past this shock, the second paragraph is also interesting. In effect, is PwC saying – affiliates, please get behind us in coming up with a common approach, else you will end up bickering and cross-suing each other to get any dollars back from a cleaned-out Lehman US entity??

Big Four Firms Provide Excellent Resources On IFRS Conversion

Many of our readers in the professional accounting, reporting, tax and corporate finance fields are already familiar with the impending adoption of IFRS rules in the US and many countries all over the world. We thought we would write a bit about the current situation and how it is being handled at the Big Four accounting firms, given that it is going to be a critical issue for them in terms of public auditing, financial statement reporting as public company clients either converge GAAP to IFRS or convert fully to IFRS in the next few years and require hand-holding, guidance and advice from the Big Four firms...

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Accenture Finally Moves Incorporation From Bermuda to Ireland

01 September 2009

After announcing earlier this year that it will switch its place of incorporation from Bermuda to Ireland, its official as of today September 1, 2009. After gaining required approval from the Supreme Court of Bermuda. Accenture today completed the change in its place of incorporation to Ireland from Bermuda. The company will continue to be registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and to be subject to SEC reporting requirements. And Accenture shares will continue to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “ACN.”..

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Big4 Surveys: Optimism and Positive Sentiment Are Here Again

The Big Four firms periodically conduct global surveys on economic indicators, trends and specific industries. We have blogged earlier that such surveys have been quite accurate in gauging the advent and the depth of our ongoing economic crisis. Since these cover multiple industries, countries and executive levels and are conducted by independent and reputable firms, we can look to them as good indicators of global economic activity and a worthwhile complement to other well watched indices...



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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%...

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Shocking Accounting Scandal at Huron Consulting Group

Just after market close on Friday July 31st, 2009, Huron Consulting Group dropped a bombshell on investors by announcing an intention to restate its 2006 to 2009 financial statements due to incorrect accounting of “non-cash charges relating to how payments received by the sellers of certain acquired businesses were subsequently redistributed among themselves and to other select Huron employees”. Shell shocked investors immediately sold HURN stock, causing the stock to fall by an astounding 70% from close of market on Friday at $45 to open at a paltry $12 per share at open of market on Monday August 3rd, 2009, and leading to an instant shareholder value disappearance of almost $700 million...

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Deloitte’s New Shift Index – Elegant Framework For A Complex World

We were intrigued by Deloitte’s newly unveiled “Shift Index” which “pushes beyond cyclical measurement and looks at the long-term rate of change and its impact on economic performance.” The Shift Index is “designed to measure the rate of change and magnitude of these long-term forces that spawn the extreme events currently observed in today’s business world.”...

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Q2-2009 IPO Activity Grows Seven-Fold Over Q1-2009, Signals Some Deal Optimism

Ernst and Young has just released its Q2-2009 global IPO report, and while activity in this quarter was substantially over previous Q1-2009 quarter, it was far below 2008 levels and driven largely by 3 key IPOs in developing countries...

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Accenture Q3-2009, Big Change From Prior Quarter – Investors Love It

In March 2009, Accenture (NYSE: ACN) delivered a shock to investors when it reported revenues and EPS for Q2-2009 under what investors were generally expecting and then dialed down expectations. For Q2-2009, Accenture’s EPS was 63 cents, 1 cent better than consensus expectations of 62 cents, but revenue of $5.27 billion was far less than what Wall Street was expecting at $5.53 billion. At that time, Accenture shares sank $4.60, or 14.4 percent, to $27.36 in morning trading on Friday, March 27, 2009. Management’s Q2-2009 commentary was sobering, and talked about sudden and dramatic shifts in clients and projects...

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High Net Worth Individuals Lose $8 Trillion In Just One Year!

We have blogged in prior years about the Capgemini Merrill Lynch World Wealth Report, since the results are fascinating and the numbers are simply mind-boggling. The 13th annual 2009 report was just released hours ago, and we bring you their (rather sobering) findings and our take...

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Miami Jury Finds BDO International Not Guilty – Huge Implications

We recently blogged on the recent ongoing trial on BDO International vs. Banco Espirito Santo in Miami, Florida with a jury in session to decide on the issue whether BDO Seidman, the US country firm, was an agent of BDO International, and whether the global umbrella firm should hold financial responsibility for the liabilities of the US firm...

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Grant Thornton Survey Indicates Optimism Returns to Pre-Recession Levels

A little under a month ago (May 14, 2009) we blogged about a number independently conducted recent surveys by the Big 4 firms as a gauge for the depth and breadth of the global economic crisis and any nascent signs of its ending...




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KPMG Advisory Reorganizes From 9 Lines To 3 Groups

We see from KPMG’s website this morning that there is an internal reorganization of its KPMG Advisory Service Line with a new operating model and reducing its currently nine different service lines:



1. Accounting Advisory Services
2. Business Performance Services
3. Corporate Finance
4. Financial Risk Management
5. Forensic
6. Internal Audit, Risk & Compliance Services
7. IT Advisory Services
8. Restructuring
9. Transaction Services

into three larger service groups effective October 1, 2009:

1. Performance & Technology
2. Transactions & Restructuring
3. Risk & Compliance...


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PwC Buys BearingPoint Commercial Services, Pays $19 MM More

Another development in the BearingPoint bankruptcy saga, after the finalization of the Federal Services unit sale to Deloitte for $350 million, the bankruptcy court has authorized the sale of the

North American Commercial Services business, including its Financial Services segment and

associated Global Delivery Centers, to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the highest bidder for this service line. Under the terms of its winning bid at an auction, PwC will acquire the majority of BearingPoint’s Commercial Services unit for $44 million, subject to contractual adjustments. Subject to customary closing conditions, the sale is expected to be finalized by the end of June...

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Accenture To Leave Sunny Bermuda For The Emerald Isle

Yesterday, Accenture’s Board of Directors unanimously approved a plan to change its place of incorporation from Hamilton, Bermuda to Dublin, Ireland. This will be put to shareholder vote in the next four months...

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BDO Seidman Vs Banco Espirito Case - Trial Begins Tomorrow in Florida Court

BDO Seidman Vs Banco Espirito Case - Trial Begins Tomorrow in Florida Court

In August of 2007, we had blogged about a large $521 million financial judgment against BDO Seidman in its audit of Banco Espirito Santo of Portugal. At that time, we said,

“Banco Espirito Santo claimed it partnered with Bankest Capital to form E.S. Bankest in late 1990s relying on (BDO Seidman's) faulty audits that Bankest Capital's income had nearly tripled from 1995 to 1996. The bank also relied on later audits from BDO Seidman, which certified audits for E.S. Bankest accounts totaling some $225 million, of which only $5 million represented legitimate income.The bank is understandably happy with this verdict, but BDO Seidman will appeal it vigorously, by posting a $50 million bail. As expected, the firm will argue that senior management at Banco Espirito Santo was aware of this fraud and was also complicit.”...


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