For the Record

KPMG’s Advisory practice will take over Grant Thornton’s Supply Chain Advisory Services practice, the firm announced today, in a deal that closed on July 16th. The purchase includes “the addition of 23 highly-skilled, experienced professionals to KPMG” and the firm will also take over the existing projects “at select Fortune 500 companies.”

This is certainly appears to be a nice little boost for KPMG’s Advisory practiceclear whether this will be a big part of the advisory practice or an area for potential growth in jobs and revenues, TPTB seem pretty excited about it (see boilerplate after the jump).

But we think the more interesting aspect of this particular deal is the strategy of Grant Thornton. Back in January when Stephen Chipman gave his first firmwide call to the troops, he discussed many things including the not so subtle warning that some people would not be “joining us on the next stage of our journey.” That’s a pretty clear message but nowhere in the message to the firm was the slightest indication given that this, dare we say, firesale would be occurring.

This is the fifth major move that we have covered involving Grant Thornton just this year. We have reported on sales of GT’s Albuquerque, Honolulu offices as well as the closure of the Madison and Greensboro offices.

This is the first sale of a practice that we have covered and KPMG is the largest firm to be involved in one of these transactions. Moss Adams purchased GT’s Albuquerque office and partners in the Honolulu office purchased the practice to become an affiliate of PKF.

Perhaps this part of the journey was too sensitive to share with the troops or maybe it was communicated in code that could only be deciphered with a secret book with all the definitions OR maybe the majority of people at GT weren’t paying attention to anything SC said unless it included the words “compensation,” “promotion,” or “bonus.” We can’t really say.

That being said, we are still hearing rumors of other office sales by GT. Nothing we’re permitted to share with you now but if you are aware of any talk about a possible sale in your city, get in touch with us. And if you’ve got thoughts or knowledge on this particular deal – from the perspective of either firm – share below.

NEW YORK, July 19 /PRNewswire/ — KPMG LLP, the U.S. audit, tax and advisory firm, today announced it has expanded its restructuring capabilities through acquisition of the Supply Chain Advisory Services practice of Grant Thornton LLP, U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International Ltd.

The acquisition strengthens KPMG’s existing restructuring services practice in the automotive, pharmaceuticals, aerospace and defense and other manufacturing industries by expanding current capabilities in financial and operational restructuring, supply chain advisory, supplier services, technology and performance improvement. The transaction also includes Grant Thornton LLP’s Vontik software system.

“As organizations continue to reinvigorate their focus on growth, they are facing unprecedented pressures to transform their finance and operations functions,” said John Veihmeyer, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, KPMG LLP. “This acquisition will enhance KPMG’s ability to help businesses address the four key drivers of business transformation: people, process, risk and control, and technology.”

The transaction, which closed on July 16, includes the addition of 23 highly-skilled, experienced professionals to KPMG. KPMG will also take over existing Grant Thornton LLP projects at select Fortune 500 companies.

“As the already strong demand for large scale transformation and restructuring assistance continues to grow, this acquisition helps us provide the functional breadth and depth needed by large organizations across several key industry sectors,” said Mark A. Goodburn, Vice Chairman and Head of Advisory, for KPMG LLP. “It’s also consistent with our continuing strategy to build superior large-scale transformation capabilities to serve the world’s top organizations.”

“Adding these tactical, operational restructuring and supply chain skills to KPMG’s strategic market position is a great fit, at the right time,” added Drew Koecher, partner and head of restructuring for KPMG LLP. “With the addition of this group, we broaden and deepen our client base and add to our already extensive advisory capabilities to serve businesses as they transform their business models to be successful in this new economy.”