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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Deloitte Realizes Synergies From BearingPoint Federal Practice. Thousands Hired

Charles Harper, Big4.com

July 12, 2010

More than a year ago, on March 25, 2009, we wrote about the imminent breakup of BearingPoint with business assets being sold to various Big Four firms and to BearingPoint Europe management (http://bigfouralumni.blogspot.com/2009/03/bearingpoint-breakup-imminent-business.html).

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Will Deloitte Buy Booz or Kearney?

Susan Black, Big4.com

July 6, 2010

With the recent calling off of the Booz Kearney merger, and Deloitte USA open to acquisitions, would Deloitte pursue any of these consulting firms and attempt to combine with Deloitte Consulting?

Deloitte UK has been on an acquisition tear, and we've wondered why its been so quiet Stateside.

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Yes! The Accenture (ACN) Machine Rolls On - Q3-2010 Beats Wall Street

Lisa Chapman, Big4.com
June 24, 2010

Accenture (NYSE: ACN) just released Q3-2010 results for quarter ended May 31, 2010, with net revenues of $5.57 billion and EPS of 73 cents. Both were ahead of expectations of $5.48 billion revenue and EPS of 69 cents,

We had said in our earlier blog post (http://www.big4.com/?page=blog_item&url=accenture-q3-2010-tomorrow-an-earnings-round-up-571), “We would be surprised by a beat, though given Accenture’s global breadth and scale, that would not be completely out of the question.”

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Optimistic Australian Budget Shores Up Future Growth For Big Four Firms

June 15, 2010
Nita Teoh, Big4.com

The release of the Federal Budget in May 2010 paints a bright future for the Australian economy. The budget predicts a return to surplus in 2012-13, as this commodity-rich country sells its wares to hungry Asian economies. The Government has forecast real GDP growth of 3.25 % in 2010-11, with a further increase to 4% in 2011-12. These are far better numbers than most other developed economies, and the robustness is evidenced by the recent hike in interest rates.

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Accenture, Deloitte Jumping In On Digital Marketing Consulting

Nita Teoh, Big4.com

June 12, 2010

The digital age is coming at us real fast!

All types of companies are starting to invest in digital marketing over traditional advertising, as trends indicate that consumer highly prefer online news and entertainment through digital mediums.

Digital marketing encompasses the use of any digital mediums to promote a company’s brand. It includes the Internet, television, radio, and mobile for advertising to consumers.

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AT Kearney Booz(es). Big Four Firm Stay Sober

Both Financial Times and Wall Street Journal are reporting that AT Kearney and Booz & Co. are considering a merger to bulk up and get into seventh place globally behind McKinsey and Boston Consulting Group...

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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...

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Capgemini Q1-2010 Results Very Encouraging, Pleasing Investors

Capgemini Group just released its Q1-2010 earnings report today with revenues of €2,052 million, exactly same as Q4-2009 revenue of €2,049 million, and somewhat better than what the company had indicated earlier on this year, however, they were 6.9% lower than Q1-2009 revenues of €2,205 million....

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BearingPoint and West Monroe Partners In Global Alliance

As many may recall, the US BearingPoint firm essentially went into bankruptcy in 2009, with PwC buying the US commercial consulting business and Deloitte purchasing the federal governmental consulting practice. The European part of BearingPoint was bought out by the local management who continue to operate the firm under the erstwhile name with 3,250 people in 14 European countries focused on commercial, financial and public services clients. And it appears they have been working hard behind the scenes...

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Accenture Q2-2010 Fall Short, But New Bookings Assures Investors

Accenture recently reported its Q2-2010 quarterly results for the quarter ending Feb. 28, 2010 with revenues of $5.18 billion, down 2% in U.S. dollars but 8% in local currency from Q2-2009 revenue of $5.27 billion. Consulting revenues $2.93 billion, down 3% in US dollar terms and Outsourcing revenues were $2.24 billion, flat in U.S. dollar terms. Q2-2010 net income was $462 million, compared with $502 million for Q2-2009...

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Accenture Q1-2010 Revenue Short But EPS Beats Street. Good Outlook

Accenture Q1-2010 Revenue Short, But EPS Beats Street. Good Outlook

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) just reported Q1-2010 results after market close today. The full earnings release is available on the Accenture.com investor relations site. We will only provide our quick analysis here at this time...

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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...

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Accenture Q4-2009 In Line, But Sober Outlook Below Investor Expectations

Accenture just reported its fourth quarter of 2009 and full year of 2009 results at 4 pm on October 1, 2009.  billion (versus $21.58 Wall Street expectations), a 8% decrease in U.S. dollars and flat in local currency. EPS of $2.44 plus $0.24 impact from the restructuring charge for total of $2.68 (versus $2.68 Wall Street expectations) compared with $2.65 in fiscal 2008. New bookings were $23.90 billion. Operating income was $2.64 billion, and operating margin was 12.3%. Absent the restructuring charge, annual operating income was $2.90 billion and annual operating margin was 13.4%...

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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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Capgemini Q1-2009 Results Stable, Investors Push Shares Up 3 Percent

Capgemini released its Q1-2009 results with revenues of €2,205 million, up 0.9% compared to Q1-2009 of €2,205 million but down 0.3% at constant exchange rates.

Outsourcing Services increased 1.1% and Technology Services edged up 0.4%;
Sogeti declined 0.7% while newly-formed Consulting Services dropped 9.8%.

By geography, United Kingdom & Ireland rose strongly at 7.0%, France and Benelux revenues dropped 0.8% and 0.6%, respectively. North America sales had the worst results, falling 6.9% than Q1-2008.

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Capgemini Has New SBU – Consulting, Largest in Europe, 4,000 Consultants

Capgemini just announced a new Strategic Business Unit, Capgemini Consulting Services with revenues of EUR 700 million (8 % of Capgemini 2008 revenues of EUR 8.7 Billion) and over 4,000 expert strategy and management consultants in more than 30 countries as part of a corporate reorganization.

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Accenture Indicates Profound and Dramatic Shift At Clients, Shares Swoon

Accenture had its Q2-2009 conference call yesterday at 4:30pm and we summarize for you the key points of that call. Accenture’s stock fell 11% upon release of Q2-2009 earnings, although they beat the Q2-2009 EPS estimate by 1 cent (actual 63 cents versus consensus 62 cents), the revenue was less than expectations and the outlook for the third quarter and the year was lowered quite significantly. We were anticipating a Q2 beat, but certainly not expecting such a sharp decrease in out-quarters, and this we found was equally surprising to the company, analysts and investors. ACN dropped its revenue and EPS guidance for the year, citing uncertainty, FX headwinds and lack of visibility, which did not sit well with investors...

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Tough Q2-2009 Bar for Accenture, but Likely to Match Expectations

Accenture is reporting its Q2-2009 (for the three months from November 2008 to February 2009) results on Thursday March 26, 2009, and the consensus Wall Street analyst estimate for earnings is 62 cents per share compared to year-ago 64 cents per share in Q2-2008, 3% lower. This is the average estimate from 18 analysts who follow the stock and have varying estimates between 58 cents and 67 cents per share...

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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...

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