Taxi-drivers' story about Big 4

Таксист рассказал:

- Если часа в три часа ночи вызывают такси, и при этом все ТРЕЗВЫЕ - значит точно бухгалтера/аудиторы!

Cab-driver told:

If at 3 a.m. someone calls a taxi, and NOBODY is DRUNK at the moment - it clearly means that they are accountants/auditors.

Economist about Big 4.

Here are some extracts from recently published article at Economist:Accounting for good people
...they collectively employ some 500,000 people around the world.
Their product is their employees' knowledge and their distribution channels are the relationships between their staff and clients. More than most they must worry about how to attract and retain the brightest workers.
Detailed goals are set: Deloitte's 2010 business plan includes targets for staff turnover, the scores it seeks in its annual staff survey and the proportion of female partners it would like to have. Partners are increasingly measured and rewarded as managers of people, not just for the amount of money they bring in. People-related items account for one-third of the scorecard used to evaluate partners at PwC. KPMG's British firm has introduced time codes so that employees can account for how long they spend dealing with staff matters.
...the Big Four are now aggressively re-entering the field of advisory services, necessitating a new burst of hiring. Ernst & Young is not unusual: it hired some 25,000 people in 2006, but expects to hire 30,000 this year and 35,000 in 2008.

Retaining good people is the biggest challenge. Turnover rates at the Big Four have historically been high—roughly 15-20% leave each year, compared with as few as 5% in some other industries. The cost of this is “astronomical”

, says Jim Wall, Deloitte's managing director of human resources. Mr Wall reckons that

every percentage-point drop in annual turnover rates equates to a saving of $400m-500m.

None of the big accountancy firms wants churn rates to fall too far, if only to keep the performance bar high. Mr Wall thinks a 10-12% turnover rate would be about right; Richard Baird, PwC's people chief, reckons that 12-15% is comfortable.

Deloitte's British firm asks partners to spend a minute with their staff immediately after client meetings to provide feedback so that they fulfill more of a training role.
...KPMG has a programme called Compass, which identifies 11 career milestones on the path to becoming a senior partner, each of which triggers development activities. PwC runs Genesis Park, a five-month residential course for a hand-picked group of would-be partners from around the world.
Cynics may wonder if the Big Four's focus on talent is only cyclical. Will expansion in their fast-growing advisory businesses make them less concerned about nurturing people in lower-margin audit work? Would an economic downturn quickly send head-counts plunging again? The size of workforces at individual firms, and in the business lines within them, will continue to ebb and flow with demand. But the supply constraints faced by employers are more rigid. As the battle in the long-heralded “war for talent” is joined across industries and countries, it could be worth keeping an eye on how the Big Four are quietly leading the charge.
Source...

PwC "Advisory Services" will be cut. Consultants to be fired!!!

PwC is sending more than 25% of its consulting staff, "Advisory Services," to permanent "out of pocket" status.

As we speak, up to 1000 professionals are being told they have no job, with most having their last day this Friday.
The Global Leader of the Advisory Services Practice, Juan Pujadas, is rumored to be out and an internal turnaround guy from the Northeast said to be teed up to lead the practice or what's going to be left of it. Cuts are said to be not necessarily focused on any one group, but spread amongst all, with each partner asked to sacrifice a few to make the numbers. Pujadas is one of the few partners expected to suffer an actual job loss. That's just not how they do things there.

My contacts tell me that the partners have been attending workshops over the last several months to learn how to fire people.

So what went wrong? As if I hadn't already told you what was wrong with this gang...

Their growth targets for the last fiscal year ending June 30, 2007 were aggressive. They wanted to hit a US$ Billion and came up quite short. Partners were asked to take a cut in their payouts as a consequence.

Well, the audit partners could not have liked that much. When PwC sold what consulting practice they had to IBM in 2002, they also got rid of any one who actually knew how to do consulting. Recycling some more audit partners to try to revive the practice and hiring experienced consultants en masse the last two years was not going to work. The culture there does not accept outsiders easily. Consultants who knew what it takes to compete, and compete was what they had to do, were not going to function well under converted audit partners who didn't know how to run a consulting firm.

Author: Francine McKenna. Further details on Re: The Auditors

PwC Career and CSR Ad

KPMG to pay workers overtime

Accounting giant KPMG LLP said yesterday that it will compensate its employees who should have been paid for the overtime they worked over the past eight years.
KPMG was hit with a class-action lawsuit on the overtime issue last fall, and that case is still before the courts. The complaint said the company forced hundreds of employees to work several hours a week in unpaid overtime to keep clients happy.
Under the plan, the company said, current and former employees who are eligible will be "fully and fairly compensated, according to the relevant provincial laws," for all overtime since Jan. 1, 2000, that was earned but unpaid.....
The suit alleged that KPMG employees worked as many as 90 hours a week to complete assignments. It alleged the company regularly required employees to "eat their time" if they spent more time on an assignment than KPMG could recover from the client.

Continued...

Insight from KPMG Canada...

KPMG Named ‘Best Islamic Assurance and Advisory Services Provider’

KPMG takes top advisory prize at 2008 Euromoney Islamic Finance Awards

KPMG was named ‘Best Islamic Assurance and Advisory Services Provider’ on 5 Feb at the 2008 Euromoney Islamic Finance Awards ceremony in London, UK. Now in its 6th year, Euromoney’s Islamic Finance Awards are regarded as the benchmark awards for the global Islamic finance industry.

In selecting KPMG, the magazine said:

“KPMG's breadth of assignments and the diverse geographic spread of their business was very impressive and was a key factor in selecting the company for the award. KPMG’s assignments span Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa and it is well positioned to work with its clients as Islamic finance expands globally.”

Source...

KPMG "Hero" In Credit Suisse Mess?

Credit Suisse sent a new and unwelcome shiver through financial markets after suspending a "small number" of traders suspected of inflating the value of asset-backed investments by $2.85bn (£1.5bn).
The Swiss investment bank was quick to reject parallels with Société Générale, where rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel's hidden deals cost the French group €4.9bn (£3.7bn). Credit Suisse stressed that it had not uncovered hidden trades but that staff had wrongly valued certain assets.
However, the disclosure shocked the industry.....

Credit Suisse's announcement was triggered by disclosure requirements relating to the listing of a $2bn bond. According to Mr Wheeler, the auditor, KPMG,

discovered the mismarkings and errors during an audit for the bond issue and subsequently refused to sign off on the review

. The bank declined to comment......

ACCA exam results announced!

This morning was probably the most emotional for the last several months.
The whole 'progressive' part of the Big 4 could not start working day without checking the results.
If still not - CHECK IT OUT! - https://portal.accaglobal.com/Results_Login.html
First impression - Looooots of people FAILED Paper P1 Professional Accountant. Probably, because of low ethics :-))).
Nevertheless,
CONGRATULATIONS
to anyone, who is not frustrated with the results and will keep trying in future!

Happy Valentines Day Dear Big 4 workers!!!

A Letter from HR

Dear Employees:

It has been brought to management's attention that some individuals
throughout the company have been using foul language during the course
of normal conversation with their co-workers.

Due to complaints received from some employees who may be easily
offended, this type of language will no longer be tolerated.

We do, however, realize the critical importance of being able to
accurately express your feelings when communicating with co-workers.

Therefore, a list of 18 New and Innovative 'TRY SAYING' phrases have
been provided so that proper exchange of ideas and information can
continue in an effective manner.

Number 1
TRY SAYING: I think you could use more traini ng.
INSTEAD OF: You don't know what the f___ you're doing.

Number 2
TRY SAYING: She's an aggressive go-getter.
INSTEAD OF: She's a f___ing bit__.

Number 3
TRY SAYING: Perhaps I can work late.
INSTEAD OF: And when the f___ do you expect me to do this?

Number 4
TRY SAYING: I'm certain that isn't feasible.
INSTEAD OF: No f___ing way.

Number 5
TRY SAYING: Really?
INSTEAD OF: You've got to be sh___ing me!

Number 6
TRY SAYING: Perhaps you should check with...
INSTEAD OF: Tell someone who gives a sh__.

Number 7
TRY SAYING: I wasn't involved in the project.
INSTEAD OF: It's not my f___ing problem.

Number 8
TRY SAYING: That's interesting.
INSTEAD OF: What the f___?

Number 9
TRY SAYING: I'm not sure this can be implemented.
INSTEAD OF: This sh__ won't work.

Number 10
TRY SAYING: I'll try to schedule that. INSTEAD OF: Why the f___ didn't
you tell me sooner?

Number 11
TRY SAYING: He's not familiar with the issues.
INSTEAD OF: He's got his head up his a__.

Number 12
TRY SAYING: Excuse me, sir?
INSTEAD OF: Eat sh__ and die.

Number 13
TRY SAYING: So you weren't happy with it?
INSTEAD OF: Kiss my a__.

Number 14
TRY SAYING: I'm a bit overloaded at the moment.
INSTEAD OF: F__ it, I'm on salary.

Number 15
TRY SAYING: I don't think you understand.
INSTEAD OF: Shove it up your a__.

Number 16
TRY SAYING: I love a challenge.
INSTEAD OF: This f___ing job sucks.

Number 17
TRY SAYING: You want me to take care of that?
INSTEAD OF: Who the f___ died and made you boss?

Number 18
TRY SAYING: He's somewhat insensitive.
INSTEAD OF: He's a pr_ck.

Thank You,
Human Resources

All Big4 Firms On Fortune's 100 Best Companies To Work For

All Big Four firms recently made it to the recent Fortune magazine's listing of Top 100 US Companies to work for. This ranking is highly anticipated and widely quoted. Deloitte even carried a press release on their inclusion on their website.

Leading the pack in the list was Ernst and Young at #57, followed by KPMG at #71, PricewaterhouseCoopers at #90, and Deloitte at #95.

And here are more interesting numbers from the report. Keep in mind that these are the US firms of the larger international Big Four partnerships, and while some numbers pertain to the US, some others (such as revenue) are for the global firm:

Fortune Rank - E&Y clearly the leader here (12,200 members on E&Y Facebook!)
Ernst and Young 57
KPMG 71
PricewaterhouseCoopers 90
Deloitte and Touche 95


Number of Employees in United States - Deloitte has the most by far
Ernst and Young 25,947
KPMG 22,857
PricewaterhouseCoopers 29,818
Deloitte and Touche 36,517

Number of Employees outside United States - Fortune numbers appear unreliable
Ernst and Young 88,000
KPMG 340
PricewaterhouseCoopers 365
Deloitte and Touche 5,104

% of Minorities - Deloitte is the best firm for minorities
Ernst and Young 30%
KPMG 28%
PricewaterhouseCoopers 28%
Deloitte and Touche 32%

% of Women - But PwC has the highest % of women
Ernst and Young 49%
KPMG 44%
PricewaterhouseCoopers 49%
Deloitte and Touche 46%

Annual Job Growth% - KPMG is booming in creating new positions on % basis
Ernst and Young 4%
KPMG 8%
PricewaterhouseCoopers 5%
Deloitte and Touche 7%

New Jobs Created Annually - But Deloitte leads in terms of pure numbers
Ernst and Young 958
KPMG 1,422
PricewaterhouseCoopers 1,315
Deloitte and Touche 2,453

Number of Job Applicants - Nearly a million applicants to E&Y and Deloitte!
Ernst and Young 436,340
KPMG 186,267
PricewaterhouseCoopers 204,460
Deloitte and Touche 475,286

Voluntary Turnover% - But a good % leave each year and become ALUMNI!
Ernst and Young 15%
KPMG 17%
PricewaterhouseCoopers 12%
Deloitte and Touche 14%

Average Annual Pay $ - E&Y just shy of $100K, others not far behind
Ernst and Young $99,469
KPMG $72,430
PricewaterhouseCoopers $88,007
Deloitte and Touche $77,495

2006 Revenues ($ Millions) - Fortune numbers appear unreliable
Ernst and Young $21,100
KPMG $19,810
PricewaterhouseCoopers $20,772
Deloitte and Touche $23,000

Data source: Fortune magazine, February 4, 2008 issue,