We Talk with Grant Thornton on Accounting Talent Management

July 20, 2010

Company CFOs, as guardians of corporate coffers, have been under severe pressure in this economic crisis, equally to maintain profitability and efficiently manage their own financial organization. Revenue enhancement, cost control and risk management is still job number one. But not far from that is the acquisition, nurturing and retention of those who really make it happen – the accounting staff within their organizations.

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KPMG Extends Consulting Depth, Buys Grant Thornton Supply Chain Practice

John Fowler, Big4.com

July 19, 2010

We have not seen many acquisitions come through for KPMG US, but there has been growing rhetoric about the need for Big Four firms to get back into the consulting business.  See this article right from KPMG’s global site, which says….”For some time, the Big 4 accountants have been keen to make the point that they're more than just auditors. Less than ten years ago though, three of them exited the market for consultancy services. Fast forward several years and they're back en masse - and seemingly more assured than before.

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Compliments of Grant Thornton!

Compliments of Grant Thornton!

This morning in New York City and likely all other big US metro cities, there was a big give-away of Bloomberg's newly revised Bloomberg Business Week magazine, and on the cover was cardboard slip with an intriguing line, "Let's assume your time is valuable."...

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Grant Thornton On South Africa World Cup: Fewer Visitors Staying Longer

Just yesterday, April 21, 2009, Grant Thornton released its revised projections of the economic impact of the upcoming 2010 FIFA World Cup, now about 50 days away, on South Africa. And this was carried this morning April 22, 2010 by the Wall Street Journal, with a slightly different slant...

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Grant Thornton: Do Not Expect Higher Salary or Bonus This Year

Grant Thornton has some less than promising news for all professionals.

The firm surveyed 496 U.S. CFOs and senior comptrollers from March 22 through April 5, 2009, and found that 53% plan no salary changes in the next 6 months, while 32% plan to decrease and 15% plan to increase...

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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...

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Auditor Merry Go Round at Overstock.com

                              We were intrigued by a recent quote from Overstock.com's President.

On December 29, 2009,we saw, "It is nice to be back with a Big Four accounting firm," said Jonathan Johnson, President of Overstock.com. "We are pleased to have the resources and professionalism that KPMG brings as our auditors. We will work closely with them to timely file our 2009 Form 10-K. In the meantime, we remain in discussions with the SEC to answer the staff's questions on the accounting matters that lead to our filing an unreviewed Form 10-Q for Q3."...

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A Wake-up Call For America

We saw this on the Grant Thornton home page, and the title was so tantalizing, it was too good not to dig in and blog about it.

This recently released study by David Weild and Edward Kim indicates that a sharp fall in US publicly listed companies is generally driving a depression in US stock markets and further, that it has inhibited economic recovery, impaired the job market and undermined U.S.competitiveness. The deep underlying cause for this – severe changes to the market structure over the last twenty years...

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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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Big4 Firm Surveys Uniformly Indicate Weak Sentiment, Some Recent Hope

We looked at some survey results from independently conducted surveys by the Big 4 firms in recent months as a gauge for the depth and breadth of the global economic crisis and any nascent signs of its ending...


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Grant Thornton Finds Sobering Outcomes for 2009 Executive Pay

We step beyond the Big Four firms for this blog post, going to the home page of Grant Thornton (GT) for an interesting and very relevant study on executive compensation. This is fresh off the press as it captures sentiment as of February 2009. The findings are quite sobering and the ultimate impact of the slowing economy is being felt where it hurts the most – the executive wallet...

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Deloitte Remains Embroiled in Parmalat Saga

Remember Parmalat ? the Italian diary company which plunged into spectacular bankruptcy in 2003 when it collapsed under a huge debt burden of EUR 14 Billion. Since then, the company has restructured and relisted in 2005 in Milan...

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Grant Thornton Revenue Up 17%

Grant Thornton LLP, the U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International, reported on October 17th, that its revenues increased 17% to break the bilion dollar level for the fiscal year ending July 31, 2007. Revenues was $1.036 billion

Grant Thornton also said that of its 1,896 new client engagements, 1-in-5 were companies with global operations. But it did not provide much more than this high level info...

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Number 5 and 6 Audit Firms Merge in Canada

In Canada, we hear of consolidations below the Big Four level. Canada’s Number 5 and 6 accounting firms, Grant Thornton LLP and BDO Dunwoody LLP have recently agreed to discuss a merger. The motive: to become larger and stay competitive with the Big Four firms. Yet the road is long: Grant Thornton audits only 3 of the top 100 TSE companies, while BDO Dunwoody audits none of those companies...

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Deloitte Settles Parmalat Suit for $149 Million

We hear that Deloitte will settle its suit with Parmalat SpA for $149 million to settle lawsuits where it was accused of participating in the Italian dairy company's bankruptcy in December 2003.

In a recent joint statement both parties indicated that this settlement resolves all litigation issues between them. Also covered was Dianthus SpA, which operated as Deloitte & Touche until July 2003 in Italy.



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Deloitte Gets A Reprieve in Parmalat Case

And in another ruling by Judge Kaplan…he has adjourned a damages case filed by Italian dairy firm Parmalat against its former bankers and auditors to December 31, 2006 to see if the parties can work out a settlement. This trial was set for middle of 2007, but if all parties could workout something, then the trial itself could be avoided....

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A Brave New World: Banish the Static, Welcome the Dynamic

A Brave New World!

That’s what the Big Four Accounting Firms want now! PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, Deloitte & Touche, Ernst & Young, BDO Seidman and Grant Thornton have recently released a joint report.

Together, they are now calling for a complete overhaul and rethink of the way companies are reporting their financial performance to investors...

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Grant Thornton Revenue Up 22%, Double the Big4 Rate

Grant Thornton LLP (GT), the U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International, says that its US revenues climbed 22% from $726 million to $886 million in the fiscal year ending July 31, 2006. This follows a 29% increase from $562 million in 2004 to $726 million in 2005...

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China Inc. Takes on Big Four Audit Firms

It appears that China, Inc. the growing economic juggernaut is turning its focus on the Big Four Accounting firms. The Big Four - Deloitte & Touche, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers have each around 4,500 staff and looking to add an additional 20% ....

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Big Four Firms Try to Mitigate Audit Risk

Several of the Big Four firms have been in the news recently due to a common issue: the long-tailed effects from the risk of auditing public companies....

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