Sunday, February 22, 2009

Golf and Big Four Firms – Drama and Excitement Next Week!

When do the legendary game of golf and great Big Four firms meet on equal ground?

This intersection happens when two of the top players in the world are sponsored by two of the Big Four firms. Add to that background some competitive drama, and you have the makings of a golf thriller...


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Wednesday, February 18, 2009

BearingPoint Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Today


Today, BearingPoint, Inc. announced “it has achieved a financial restructuring agreement with its senior secured lenders that will significantly reduce its debt and improve its capital structure.”


In other words, the firm is bankrupt...





Monday, February 09, 2009

PwC CEO Confidence Survey Shows All-Time Low Confidence


PricewaterhouseCoopers’s recently published 12th annual CEO survey tells us nearly what every other survey indicates. Echoing the pessimism which Deloitte found in January 2009 in global CFOs, this shows that CEO confidence is at an all-time low. Globally, only 21% of CEOs seem to be very confident on any revenue growth at all in the next 12 months. This is spectacularly down from a reading of 50% in last year's Global Annual Survey...




Saturday, February 07, 2009

KPMG's Novel Experiment for 4 Day Work Week Appears Closer to Fruition

Last month KPMG UK introduced a scheme where all of KPMG UK's 11,000 employees could as a group take a voluntary pay cut through either a 4 day work week or a sabbatical in order to avoid any job cuts for employees selectively affected by the global economic crisis...


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Monday, February 02, 2009

PricewaterhouseCoopers Celebrates 75 years "Diamond Anniversary" Counting Oscars® Ballots

The upcoming 81st Annual Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars will be held in Los Angeles on Sunday, February 22, 2009.

And this year marks an important landmark for a Big Four firm....




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Sunday, February 01, 2009

Accenture Stock Holding Up, Tremendous Operating Performance


Accenture (NYSE:ACN) stock has performed extraordinary well over this credit crisis and against the sinking global stockmarket. In 2008, the Accenture stock fell only 7.6%, 30% better than its industry and 31% better than the S&P500 index. At the current price of $31.56, the stock has been fairly flat compared to its level in January 2008. In the same period, the S&P500 has dropped by around 40% and continued its fall in January 2009 by another 9%...





Thursday, January 29, 2009

Judge Rules Against Deloitte: Shareholder Suit on US and Global Firm Can Proceed


We have blogged about Deloitte and Parmalat many times earlier. Parmalat, the Italian diary company plunged into spectacular bankruptcy in 2003 when it collapsed under a huge debt burden of EUR 14 Billion. Since then, the company restructured and relisted in 2005 in Milan Stock Exchange...




Saturday, January 24, 2009

Big Four Firms Honored by Fortune Magazine in 100 Best Companies List


All the Big Four firms have made it in the top 100 of Fortune Magazine’s 100 Best Companies to Work For in 2009. Not only have these firms made the list, they have also each moved up in rankings. Accenture, which did not even make the list last year, debuted at position 97...





Sunday, January 18, 2009

Tiger Woods May Return to Golf At High-Profile 2009 Accenture Championship

Accenture may be soon involved with exciting news in the world of golf!



Tiger Woods, the undisputed champion and uber-golf-player may use 2009 Accenture Match Play Championship in February 21-24, 2009 at Tuscon, AZ to mark his return to tournament play after his knee surgery in 2008...








Thursday, January 15, 2009

Deloitte: Record Pessimism in Global CFOs, High Future Uncertainty


Deloitte recently surveyed US Chief Financial Officers as part of a periodic quarterly initiative to understand how current stock market and economic environment is having an impact on their future expectations, concerns and plans for their companies...






Wednesday, January 14, 2009

PricewaterhouseCoopers Issues Statement, Change from Previous Stance

The Satyam Scam Saga continues, and much as we like to step away to other matters, there continues to be interesting new developments which catch our attention.

Now The Economic Times of India reports that PricewaterhouseCoopers sent a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange and to the newly-constituted board of Satyam Computers, saying, “The former chairman has stated that the financial statements of the company have been inaccurate for successive years. The contents of the said letter, even if partially accurate, may have a material effect (which is currently unknown and cannot be quantified without thorough investigations) on the veracity of the company’s financial statements presented to us during the audit period. Consequently, our opinions on the financial statements may be rendered inaccurate and unreliable.”

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

KPMG Says Global M&A to Fall in 2009, Late Year Pickup Possible

2007 was clearly the peak of global M&A, with private equity and strategic buyers in full force, strong capital markets and supportive debt structures freely offered by commercial banks. But what a difference a year makes!

Monday, January 12, 2009

Satyam Scam – New Details Emerge Frequently, PwC Still in Focus


The Satyam Scam appears to be unfolding with news coming out so often that the Economic Times of India has a scroll bar with news marked by the minute. Given that the scandal hinges on non-existent cash on the balance sheet, and the lack of adequate controls and checks and balances on this, statutory auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers appears to be right in the middle of this situation.


Saturday, January 10, 2009

PwC Global CEO Reportedly In India to Deal with Satyam Situation


Reports from the Indian press are that the Satyam Scam has drawn the top leadership of PricewaterhouseCoopers to India to deal with the situation. It appears that PwC Global CEO Samuel DiPiazza, Jr., along with some senior worldwide partners are in India to assess and deal with any regulatory and reputational fallout from this scandal. PricewaterhouseCoopers were Satyam Computers’ external auditors and signed off on the company’s latest financial statement which is purported to contain $1 billion of “fictitious cash”


Thursday, January 08, 2009

Ernst & Young ex-CEO Becomes Ombudsman at Standard and Poors


The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE:MHP.N) named financial services veteran and former CEO of Ernst and Young, Mr. Ray Groves as Ombudsman for its Standard & Poor's (S&P) unit. This is part of a larger plan to improve the rating process and boost transparency, and restore confidence in the accuracy of its credit ratings...




Satyam’s Statutory Auditor PwC Embroiled in Huge Satyam Scam

Public auditing can potentially create risk for Big4 firms.



PricewaterhouseCoopers is now facing such risk as the statutory auditor of Indian technology outsourcer Satyam Computer Services in yesterday’s blowup of the “Satyam Scam”, or as it being labeled, India’s Enron.

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Deloitte Alum Appointed to Top SEC Post

James L. Kroeker, an ex-partner at Deloitte and Touche LLP’s National Office Accounting Services Group, responsible for providing consultation and support regarding the implementation, application, communication and development of accounting standards, including disclosure and reporting matters was named Acting Chief Accountant by SEC Chairman Christopher Cox.

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Tuesday, January 06, 2009

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.

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Wednesday, December 17, 2008

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...



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Tuesday, December 16, 2008

KPMG’s 8-Point Prescription for Managing Through Economic Crisis


On KPMG’s home page, we find an interesting prescription for strategic management through these tough times, much like a top-tier consulting firm would provide in their CEO glossies, entitled, “The subtle art of turning round your business in a storm.” The article is a good read, since it has lots of real-life companies which exemplify each action...