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McGladrey’s Clients Are More Loyal Than Other Firms’ Clients Because McGladrey

Posted on by Adrienne Gonzalez

You can believe everything you read on the Internet, especially when it comes from an accounting firm because trust!

Like this bit from McGladrey:

Bottom Line — McGladrey clients are more likely to retain us than our competitors’ clients are to retain them.

McGladrey measures client and competitor loyalty as part of a broader client feedback program.  McGladrey clients have consistently told us that they are more likely to continue using us than non-clients are to keep using their preferred providers.  In fact, we lead the market in retention behaviors, including both our client’s willingness to retain us for services they already use and to recommend us. 

Clients appreciate the extra effort our people make to understand them. It helps our clients increasingly feel valued and confident when working McGladrey.

We realize this leads to a testimonial — testimonials being nearly as valuable as Yelp reviews when it comes to that pesky thing called the truth — but without a cite, this claim is absolutely ridiculous. I mean, you can totally trust it because they surveyed their own clients and of course they wouldn't make that part up, would they?

First, define McGladrey's competitors. Give us a number or something. Shit, fake it like gum commercials do when they say 4 out of 5 dentists recommend their gum, that's better than making a claim this bold with absolutely nothing to back it up.

Second, tell us more about this feedback. Are these emails your clients send after the fact thanking you for keeping the SEC off their asses? Do you survey a large section of clients each year? Did a client tell an intern who told his manager who told the partner that they'll be retaining your services next year? WHAT IS IT?! EXPLAIN YOURSELF.

The most recent data from Audit Analytics actually shows McGladrey clients are also just as likely to leave the firm for a competitor firm, so in the context of that the above claim means absolutely nothing. Zero. Not a fucking thing. Couldn't be worth a thing even if you offered it $20 to be a thing. NADA.

Seriously, not even a footnote with a disclosure about this "survey" or anything? Guys. Really?

 

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Firm Watch: Ernst & Young

ernst_young.jpgRound two of our Firm Watch this week covers everybody’s favorite resident of Times Square, Ernst & Young. We’ll get started on E&Y’s trubs with the Schein lawsuit where the firm was recently found to be marginally negligent and were ordered to pay a smidge over $10 mil as a result. NBD really, as E&Y probably spends that much money screwing up the spelling of their name on cheesy coffee cups.
The more serious stuff on E&Y, after the jump


Here’s some major stuff that probably keeps some E&Y partners awake at night:
• Lehman Brothers – E&Y’s role in the collapse of Lehman Brothers has got little attention in the press, however, suits have already been filed by San Mateo County in California, the City of Long Beach, California and the Southern District of Texas. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to speculate that more suits are likely to be filed.
• Madoff Exposure – E&Y also has significant Madoff exposure, as the auditor of several feeder funds. D&O Diary has them listed as defendants in at least ten different lawsuits.
• Layoffs – There have lots of reports of layoffs at E&Y in the last month or so, many of which occurred in the tax practices in the Northeast, and many of those getting the axe were supposedly on visas. Real classy. This was a follow-up to layoffs that also went down in February. As if that’s not enough, there were also rumors of layoffs occurring monthly since September ’08 in the Detroit office. Plus, with lots comments about stealth layoffs at all levels, it sounds like it has been a bloodbath at E&Y.
So that seems to be the major stuff, from our view, for E&Y. Again, we want to know what we’re missing. We’re looking for tips and dirt on any of the things we discussed above and everything we didn’t mention. Email us at [email protected] and we’ll get all your additional gripes on here.