
Pandemic Pay Cuts Didn’t Sit Well with One Deloitte Employee In Australia
Yesterday Adrienne wrote an excellent post about winners and losers in accounting during the coronavirus pandemic. I’ve got one to add to the losers side: Deloitte Australia employees. Why? Not only have most Australian Green Dotters taken a 20% cut in pay since May (which CEO Richard Deutsch said was “the least worst option” to […]

Winners and Losers In Accounting: Coronavirus Edition
Whether you realize it or not, every day there are winners and losers of the accounting profession. Take, for example, the AICPA’s failed XYZ credential. Loser, obviously. The CGMA, however, is technically a winner, at least according to the 137,000 people worldwide who hold the credential and the AICPA because they can charge for it. […]
KPMG Sorta Making Up for Losing All Those Partners to PwC By Taking Some of Their Audit Clients
Accounting News Report, using data from Audit Analytics, puts out an Auditor Change Analysis every year and it usually finds its way into our inbox, however, because the analysis is a subscription-based publication (and a pricey one at that), reproducing the whole thing is usually not an option. This year we asked pretty please, and we got […]
(UPDATE) Thanks for Taking the Going Concern Fall Survey
We got a few emails asking about the iPad drawing so in order to get everyone to calm down, you’ll be glad to know that we’ve picked a winner.
But since no one wants their name to be in lights on this here fine publication, we won’t be sharing the name with you. UPDATE: Perhaps in an effort to wring some out of the readership, our winner has given us the go-ahead to publish their name. Your iPad envy should be directed at John Bialick, who works at Rothstein Kass in Roseland, New Jersey. Congrats, John! Just know that if you didn’t get an email from me telling you that you’re a winner, that means you’re a loser. Unfortunately, the rest of you are still losers. Not in life (unless you still can’t pass the CPA exam) but simply in this particular contest. This is just a quick word of thanks to everyone who took the survey and don’t worry, we’ll throw a chance to win more goodies at you someday.
Thanks for your continued support of Going Concern.
Notable Charitable Donation of the Day: Useless Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl Champions Merchandise Not so Useless
Cheer up Steelers fans! All those cheesy hats and t-shirts you were dying to wear will go to those in need over seas, thanks to the good people at World Vision:
Preprinted shirts, sweatshirts and hats that claim the Steelers won Super Bowl XLV will be shipped to people in other countries. Volunteers at World Vision, in Sewickley, prepared the clothing for shipment on Wednesday. The organization received 150 boxes of items valued at nearly $200,000. The items will be shipped within the next few months and for the first time ever a group of NFL players will help deliver the merchandise.
$200k In Steelers Super Bowl Victory Gear Donated To Needy Countries [WPXI]
Google CFO: We Win, Facebook Wins, Everybody Wins!
Chief Financial Officer Patrick Pichette on Thursday downplayed the competitive threat from social-networking giant Facebook Inc., arguing that the digital economy will create a “ton of winners.” “Everybody will benefit if the Web is more social,” he said. “It’s not a zero sum game.” [Dow Jones]
Crowe Horwath Was the Big Audit Client Winner in 2009; E&Y, Deloitte Big Losers
We might be a little late to the party on this but it just recently came across our desk and since trying to get a post up today is akin to turning water into wine, we’re running with it. And, frankly, if a large portion of you regularly read the “Public Accounting Report” we’ll be blown (BLOWN!) away.
The determination of the ranking isn’t entirely clear to us so we’ll just go for some superficial analysis on Crowe Horwath (#1 on the list) and the Big 4:
• Crowe Horwath #1 – Net gain of 24 clients; net gain in audited revenue of approximately $4 billion; net gain in assets audited of $18.4 billion; net revenue to the firm of $11 million.
• PwC #2 – Net loss of 8 clients; net gain in audited revenue of $34.9 billion; net gain in assets audited of $2.68 billion; net revenue to the firm of $8.4 million.
• KPMG #5 – Net loss of 1 client; net gain in audited revenue of over $12.9 billion; net loss in assets audited of $61.4 billion; net loss in revenue to the firm of $19.5 million.
• Ernst & Young #9 – Net loss of 30 clients; net gain in audited revenue of $5.3 billion; net loss in assets audited of $53.8 billion; net loss in revenue to the firm of $36.7 million.
• Deloitte #10 – Net loss of 7 clients; net loss in audited revenue of over $90.5 billion; net loss in assets audited of $718 billion; net loss in revenue to the firm of $74.7 million.
Crowe Horwath’s net gain of 24 clients is easily the highest of the firms presented and they’re the only firm that has increases in all the categories presented. Kinda makes you wonder why they had such a steady stream of layoffs in 2009. We’re open to suggestions and wild-ass theories on this topic.
On the losing end, Deloitte’s loss of huge clients due to the financial apocalypse has been noted by our contributor Francine McKenna and is noted by the PAR:
The firm landed the most wins of any of the Big Four firms for 2009, 46, garnering 3.5% of the overall SEC audit wins for the year. Overall, the Big Four won 7.5% of the auditor changes reported during the first three months of 2005. What relegated the firm to last place in the standings was two huge loses: UAL, to E&Y, and Merril Lynch’s acquisition by Bank of America.
All that added up to nearly $75 million in lost audit fee revenue for Deloitte. In terms of the number clients lost, E&Y managed to cruise to that title with net loss of 30 clients:
E&Y captured some sizable wins for the year, notably UAL/Chicago (Revenue: $20.19 billion) from Deloitte and Apple/Cupertino, Calif. (Revenue $32.48 billion) from KPMG. But its gains couldn’t offset losses for the year of Tyson, Sovereign Bancorp and Nalco Holding, to name a few notable losses.
The end result of this client musical chairs doesn’t really add up to much in terms of revenue for any of the firms. Even the $75 million lost by Deloitte is a drop in the bucket compared to their fiscal year ’09 revenue of $26.1 billion.
Peruse as you numbers see fit and feel free to wave the flag.