Deloitte is awarding hundreds of jobs to established consultants, also newly minted MBA’s and undergrads.
Today, most companies are doubtful to hire in such big numbers, they are afraid of prolonged economic weakness, although Deloitte did it!
Now, the company is extending 50 to 60 offers to experienced consultants, each week. By June, the firm will have hired in total more than 700 of experienced consultants.
Over the past six months Deloitte has hired nearly 800 MBA’s and undergrads. Deloitte’s HR staff expects to make also 1000 offers to the class of 2010.
According to Punit Renjen, a 23-year veteran of the company and a strategic consultant, this hiring of Deloitte in a time of economic weakness is ‘a seminal experience’ and a competitive advantage.
Many strategic firms don’t bring in midcareer experts, preferring to cultivate their own, but Deloitte is the exception. The company also recruits at many schools, for example the Big 10 universities and Carnegie Mellon, where another firm might hire only one or two people a year, says Tom Rodenhauser, vice-president at Kennedy Information. Deloitte recruits at 75 different schools across 10 different degree programs, including business majors and specialized degrees, such as HR and public health, says Rick Harrison, head of the firm’s HR.
Six months ago, Ryan Osborne refused 2 offers before he started his job by Deloitte Consulting. He’s a specialist in life sciences and information management. He was convinced of this work because he’d seen so many of his own practice leaders join the firm in earlier years.
In my view it's a good strategy of Deloitte, because a lot of people can get experience by working there!
zondag 28 februari 2010
zaterdag 27 februari 2010
AUDIT REVEALS CARE CONCERNS
An audit doesn’t always reveals financial problems. When I was searching for a good article to write about, I found the article ‘Audit reveals care concerns’. First, I thought it wasn’t a good article. Nevertheless, I read it. When I was done with it, I’ve changed my opinion. An audit doesn’t always care about financial stuff, does it?In a Christchurch rest home in Papanui, an audit disclosed problems about the well-being of the residents. It was a staff member of Windermere rest home who criticised the treatment of patients.
The employee said that “staffing levels were disgraceful and residents were being neglected”.
After hearing this announcement, Healthcare Compliance Solutions did an emergency audit.
The control confirmed the staff member was telling the truth.
Because the audit report enclosed details about residents and staff, the Canterbury District Health Board first didn’t want to gave a copy of this report. Afterwards, when all private details were eliminated, the Press get a summary of the main problems.
The problems were various. Like the employee said, there was a problem with “the workplace culture and staff relations”. But there are much more troubles in Windermere rest home, such as badly dietary service, lack of clinical leadership, ...
Furthermore, the rest house didn’t even fulfil the obligations which were mentioned in the contract, like care planning, family involvement, medication, ...
According to the summary, these issues arise from “poor management and clinical leadership”
I think it’s very good that the staff member told about the problems in the rest house. The residents, elderly people, aren’t able to protect or even to take care of themselves. Consequently, this negligence must made public to help these people. Finally, I hope that the wrongdoers will not get off scot free and that the new manager and staff will take good care of the residents.
Cow poop!
Last week I wrote my blog about Deloitte, which made it possible to apply by your mobile phone. So we knew allready that Deloitte is a company that responds to trends. But do you know that Deloitte has actually a YouTube account? I found it accidentally by googling.
There was one video that got my attention. The commercial called "What if your work mattered to the world?" and the first thing you got to see was a woman standing in a cow barn. It is about 4 consultants from Deloitte, who are participating in a project. The project is out for recycle cow dung.
The 4 employees are telling why they are so enthusiastic to participate. They took everything for granted and they hardly dwell on the fact where the milk and other natural products come from. So working with cows adds variety to their job.
“Why cow poop?”, you probably will think. Cow dung affects climate change by the gases they emit. Their excrements can be converted into energy. Farmers are aware that their activities could disrupt the nature. Deloitte helps the farmers with the implementation of the processing machine and they also give advice.
In my view Deloitte made a good decision to help to farmers and so they can help indirectly the environment. Besides this, I definitely think that consultants cannot really know the needs of farmers. The professional business of consulting is in no case comparable with the agriculture. It is a world of difference.
Carrefour plans to cut 1672 jobs and will close 21 stores
At the special works council, Carrefour has decided to cut 1672 jobs and they will close 21 stores. Moreover the wage of employees has to decrease. As a result of these decisions, Carrefour is hoping to become again profitable.
The 21 stores that will be closed exists of 14 hypermarkets and 7 supermarkets. Seven other stores of Carrefour will be opened in franchise by an entrepreneur. Furthermore negotiations will be hold between Carrefour and Mestdagh. The group Mestdagh is the head of the Belgium Champion stores. This group is interested to take over 14 stores. However it’s not sure that there will be an agreement.
There is no doubt that 1672 jobs will be cancelled. If the negotiations with Mestdagh or the franchise experiment fail, there is a possibility that more jobs will be deleted. Therefore the labour union said that there is a change that the abolition of the employment will increase to 4000.
The board of Carrefour said that 27 hypermarkets and 25 supermarkets were already making loss for many years. The opinion of the French leading figure, Gerard Lavinay, is that if Carrefour will close all those stores, 4700 people will lose their job. 3000 jobs can be saved if Carrefour will limit that huge number. Besides I think when 4700 people will become unemployed there will be a big fuss. Carrefour is making the right decision to constrain it. If the negotiations will be carry through, the French group will be at the right track to become again profitable.
As a result of this big problem, the causes are easy to find. It’s mostly because there were not enough investments in the GB-stores. Also the stores aren’t innovative.
The 21 stores that will be closed exists of 14 hypermarkets and 7 supermarkets. Seven other stores of Carrefour will be opened in franchise by an entrepreneur. Furthermore negotiations will be hold between Carrefour and Mestdagh. The group Mestdagh is the head of the Belgium Champion stores. This group is interested to take over 14 stores. However it’s not sure that there will be an agreement.
There is no doubt that 1672 jobs will be cancelled. If the negotiations with Mestdagh or the franchise experiment fail, there is a possibility that more jobs will be deleted. Therefore the labour union said that there is a change that the abolition of the employment will increase to 4000.
The board of Carrefour said that 27 hypermarkets and 25 supermarkets were already making loss for many years. The opinion of the French leading figure, Gerard Lavinay, is that if Carrefour will close all those stores, 4700 people will lose their job. 3000 jobs can be saved if Carrefour will limit that huge number. Besides I think when 4700 people will become unemployed there will be a big fuss. Carrefour is making the right decision to constrain it. If the negotiations will be carry through, the French group will be at the right track to become again profitable.
As a result of this big problem, the causes are easy to find. It’s mostly because there were not enough investments in the GB-stores. Also the stores aren’t innovative.
zaterdag 20 februari 2010
Britain posts first deficit for January since records began
Britain has reported his first budget deficit for January since records began. That’s due to increasing government spending and diminishing tax receipts.
According to the Office National Statistics the expenditure of the Government has exceeded its income by £4.3bn.
It is the first time the Government needs to borrow in January since records began in 1993.
Andrew Goodwin, senior advisor to Ernst & Young Item Club said that January usually has a healthy surplus, because in January there are always the receipts of the corporation tax. Even in the moment of financial crisis, it’s surprising to see that the Government became in a situation of deficit.
The ONS said the Government has spent £4.4bn more than in January 2009, while receipts were down £4.2bn.
David Kern, chief economist at British Chambers of Commerce, said that these bad figures reinforce the need for credible and specific deficit-cutting measures in next months.
Now, it’s very important that the Government announce a stop in the public sector wage bill, and an immediate review into the cost of public sector pensions. So the markets and the rating agencies will be persuaded that the Government is trying to resolve this big problem.
I also find it surprising that Britain has reported his first deficit in January since the records began in 1993. I think there has to change a lot to get the financial situation healthy again.
According to the Office National Statistics the expenditure of the Government has exceeded its income by £4.3bn.
It is the first time the Government needs to borrow in January since records began in 1993.
Andrew Goodwin, senior advisor to Ernst & Young Item Club said that January usually has a healthy surplus, because in January there are always the receipts of the corporation tax. Even in the moment of financial crisis, it’s surprising to see that the Government became in a situation of deficit.
The ONS said the Government has spent £4.4bn more than in January 2009, while receipts were down £4.2bn.
David Kern, chief economist at British Chambers of Commerce, said that these bad figures reinforce the need for credible and specific deficit-cutting measures in next months.
Now, it’s very important that the Government announce a stop in the public sector wage bill, and an immediate review into the cost of public sector pensions. So the markets and the rating agencies will be persuaded that the Government is trying to resolve this big problem.
I also find it surprising that Britain has reported his first deficit in January since the records began in 1993. I think there has to change a lot to get the financial situation healthy again.
Deloitte: Apply by mobile phone!
Mobile phones become more and more sophisticated. That is why Deloitte Holland created a new software application that makes it possible to receive job offers and to apply directly. This makes Deloitte the first one to do this. A good anticipating on the market, if you ask me.
When you shake your mobile, you can see the vacancy in a wider area around your neighbourhood. The application has received the suitable name ‘Shake your Job’. The day after launch, the application was used 178 times. The intervention of a computer is not needed. But on the other hand, I read on other blogs that ‘Shake Your Job’ has a lot of growing pains.
‘Shake your Job’ can only be used by owners of an Iphone or an Ipad. You might think that this is a narrow public, but analysis tells us that in 2014 the half of the mobile phones will be having internet.
Lennart Sloof of Deloitte strongly believes that well educated people will use this application. This is logical, only people with a good education will apply for a job by Deloitte. Sloof also ensured that the supply will increase the demand by offering mobile job announcements, but I am not sure about this. The demand will not automatically increase as the supply increases.
Applying mobile is a good alternative: easier and always available. I expect that this will be a normal thing in the future. But I still prefer a computer!
Read the article
When you shake your mobile, you can see the vacancy in a wider area around your neighbourhood. The application has received the suitable name ‘Shake your Job’. The day after launch, the application was used 178 times. The intervention of a computer is not needed. But on the other hand, I read on other blogs that ‘Shake Your Job’ has a lot of growing pains.
‘Shake your Job’ can only be used by owners of an Iphone or an Ipad. You might think that this is a narrow public, but analysis tells us that in 2014 the half of the mobile phones will be having internet.
Lennart Sloof of Deloitte strongly believes that well educated people will use this application. This is logical, only people with a good education will apply for a job by Deloitte. Sloof also ensured that the supply will increase the demand by offering mobile job announcements, but I am not sure about this. The demand will not automatically increase as the supply increases.
Applying mobile is a good alternative: easier and always available. I expect that this will be a normal thing in the future. But I still prefer a computer!
Read the article
KPMG SUED FOR 'NEGLIGENT' AUDITING
In April 2009, New Century Financial sued KMPG, the auditing firm of the company, for recklessly and grossly negligent auditing.
New Century, America’s second-largest seller of sub-prime loans, went bankrupt in April 2007.
KPMG was sued for at least $ 1 billion.
KPMG was claimed two times, once in New York against KPMG’s American business, and once in Los Angeles against KPMG International. In New York, the court accuses that the operations of KPMG in the United States have led to “materially misstated” financial statements. In California, KPMG, also known as the international parent company, is blamed for “severely reckless and grossly negligent” activities of the US business.
The claims also charge that KPMG has flout the tougher laws on auditor independence. This laws were introduced in 2001, after Enron’s collapse.
New Century started his activities in 1996. Ten years later, the company was the second-biggest originator of sub-prime mortgages. They bundled the loans, sold them to investors, who gave them new capital to keep lending.
New Century would buy back the mortgage-backed securities if there were defaults within the first months. In 2006, the collapsing American housing market was the beginning of the problems at New Century. The investors stopped buying the securities because they knew about the problems. Barely a month later, New Century went bankrupt. They pointed out KPMG as the culprit. KPMG was sued for at least $ 1 billion.
New Century, America’s second-largest seller of sub-prime loans, went bankrupt in April 2007.
KPMG was sued for at least $ 1 billion.
KPMG was claimed two times, once in New York against KPMG’s American business, and once in Los Angeles against KPMG International. In New York, the court accuses that the operations of KPMG in the United States have led to “materially misstated” financial statements. In California, KPMG, also known as the international parent company, is blamed for “severely reckless and grossly negligent” activities of the US business.
The claims also charge that KPMG has flout the tougher laws on auditor independence. This laws were introduced in 2001, after Enron’s collapse.
New Century started his activities in 1996. Ten years later, the company was the second-biggest originator of sub-prime mortgages. They bundled the loans, sold them to investors, who gave them new capital to keep lending.
New Century would buy back the mortgage-backed securities if there were defaults within the first months. In 2006, the collapsing American housing market was the beginning of the problems at New Century. The investors stopped buying the securities because they knew about the problems. Barely a month later, New Century went bankrupt. They pointed out KPMG as the culprit. KPMG was sued for at least $ 1 billion.
It think that KPMG has made mistakes in the auditing, but it’s not the only reason for bankruptcy of New Century. The collapsing American housing market is also a cause, and KMPG has nothing to do with that. So New Century can’t blame KPMG for everything. It has to accept that they has made mistakes too.
Source: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article6018408.ece
Greece changes chief debt manager as pressure grows
As a result of the crisis in Greece, on Thursday there had been a replacement of Spyros Papanicolaou. Petros Christodoulo, known as the former head of asset management at the National Bank of Greece, is the successor and will take up the position immediately.
The announcement came just before Greece was due to report Brussels, although EU officials said that the letter had not yet been received in Brussels.
However EU nations repress Greece, to take its finances under control. By March 16, Greece has to show signs of fiscal improvement. If not, they have to impose even tougher budget cuts. So their plan is to decrease its financing deficit (about 12,7%) to 8,7% this year. The Government has planned some measures (for example higher tax on petrol).
The Greek Prime Minister, George Papandreou has had a meeting of socialist leaders in London yesterday. There he said that they won’t use bailouts, but they will follow their program and for that they will need support.
Joaquin Almunia, the EU Competition Commissioner, said that Greece must take action to fix its public financial crisis. However support of other countries won’t help, most of the problems can only be solved by Greece.
After I read the article, I agree with the replacement, Petros Christodoulo has a lot of experience of financial problems (he works at the National Bank). I don’t agree with the opinion of Joaquin Almunia, Greece will need help from other countries. They can only solve their basic problems themselves, but for the total crisis they will need help.
maandag 15 februari 2010
KPMG has £600m consultancy target as accountants rebuild advisory roles
KPMG wants to catch up his 3 other rivals of 'The Big 4'. Within four years KPMG wants to triplicate its consulting revenues to £600million. KPMG audits 25 of the 100 FTSE companies. The FTSE 100 of the British Stock Exchange is similar to the BEL20.
Its ambitious plan is out to recruit 300 consultants over the next 12 months. Without doubt, this is a bright spot in times when redundancies are daily news. The last 3 months, KPMG has recruited 24 senior consultants, who were employed by PwC and Deloitte. I wonder how much KPMG paid to make the senior consultants desert.
KPMG sold his consulting division in 2002 but rebuilt it 4 years ago. Two other companies of ‘The Big 4’, namely Ernst & Young and PwC, did the same after conflicts and scandals. In my view, it was not fair to sell the company for big money and rebuilding it afterwards. Atos Origin, the firm who bought this division paid a lot of goodwill to KPMG. But in 2007 the clients returned to KPMG when they reopened the consulting division.
I definitely think that KPMG is playing a strategic game. Now they recruit senior consultants, they expect that the consulting division will grow, they expect that the consulting division will grow: Clients of PwC and Deloitte will go over to KPMG because the senior consultants could entail clients.
What will the future bring us? KPMG believes that the demand for consultants will rise again when the economy is making progress. The fees for consultants will rice by cost savings in the public sector. But it’s wrong to think that the demand will rise again if the economy becomes better. A lot of companies are bankrupt and others won’t need consultancy because they are cutting down.
The plans of KPMG reflect on the rivals of ‘The Big 4’: Also PwC and Deloitte want to expand. Without doubt, the competition is far from over.
Read the article
Its ambitious plan is out to recruit 300 consultants over the next 12 months. Without doubt, this is a bright spot in times when redundancies are daily news. The last 3 months, KPMG has recruited 24 senior consultants, who were employed by PwC and Deloitte. I wonder how much KPMG paid to make the senior consultants desert.
KPMG sold his consulting division in 2002 but rebuilt it 4 years ago. Two other companies of ‘The Big 4’, namely Ernst & Young and PwC, did the same after conflicts and scandals. In my view, it was not fair to sell the company for big money and rebuilding it afterwards. Atos Origin, the firm who bought this division paid a lot of goodwill to KPMG. But in 2007 the clients returned to KPMG when they reopened the consulting division.
I definitely think that KPMG is playing a strategic game. Now they recruit senior consultants, they expect that the consulting division will grow, they expect that the consulting division will grow: Clients of PwC and Deloitte will go over to KPMG because the senior consultants could entail clients.
What will the future bring us? KPMG believes that the demand for consultants will rise again when the economy is making progress. The fees for consultants will rice by cost savings in the public sector. But it’s wrong to think that the demand will rise again if the economy becomes better. A lot of companies are bankrupt and others won’t need consultancy because they are cutting down.
The plans of KPMG reflect on the rivals of ‘The Big 4’: Also PwC and Deloitte want to expand. Without doubt, the competition is far from over.
Read the article
KPMG: Internal accountants give more attention at behaviour and culture in their own organisation.
As a consequence of the financial-economical crisis, the companies of the Netherlands give no longer just attention at rules and procedures. Now the social aspects such as culture, faith, involvement and loyality of their employees become more important. So they try to improve the integrity at work.
A study of KPMG shows that by 2/3 of the companies the internal accountants give more attention at behaviour and culture in the own organisation than they did before. More than 80% propose to continue that attention in the near future.
The increased attention for ‘soft controls’ has to avoid fraud and to guarantee the good reputation of the company.
Human acting is very important according to Bart van Loon of KPMG.’ It’s easy to stipulate rules, but the acting of the employees is more influenced by their integrity, their knowledge, their skills,… ‘ he says.
The study also shows that the increased attention for soft controls demand new methods en techniques, but first at all they need more audacity to do more of these soft controls. So, when the accountants are able to carry out good soft controls and to negotiate with the management, it will be a great value for the internal accountants in their own organisation.
My opinion is that it is a very good strategy to give more attention at the social aspects of the employees. Rules are often too complicated and employees are not really motivated to applicate the rules. They do what seems best to the enterprise. I suggest the human acting determines what exactly happens in the organisation.
A study of KPMG shows that by 2/3 of the companies the internal accountants give more attention at behaviour and culture in the own organisation than they did before. More than 80% propose to continue that attention in the near future.
The increased attention for ‘soft controls’ has to avoid fraud and to guarantee the good reputation of the company.
Human acting is very important according to Bart van Loon of KPMG.’ It’s easy to stipulate rules, but the acting of the employees is more influenced by their integrity, their knowledge, their skills,… ‘ he says.
The study also shows that the increased attention for soft controls demand new methods en techniques, but first at all they need more audacity to do more of these soft controls. So, when the accountants are able to carry out good soft controls and to negotiate with the management, it will be a great value for the internal accountants in their own organisation.
My opinion is that it is a very good strategy to give more attention at the social aspects of the employees. Rules are often too complicated and employees are not really motivated to applicate the rules. They do what seems best to the enterprise. I suggest the human acting determines what exactly happens in the organisation.
Deloitte: Innovation is the strategy to accelerate growth
The results of an internal audit in Deloitte said that fundamental innovation was needed for economic growth. At present innovation is more important than ever.
There are three trends that influence the innovation. First of all, the global economic balance has changed. This means that as well as the new competitors, also the development of new markets and the influx of foreign capital has converted. That’s why a clear vision and clear decisions are needed. The second trend consist of regulation. The government has taken drastically interventions. For example there are more rules, more auditing. Finally the third trend is sustainable enterprise and corporate responsibility. Growth is necessary to be on top of these three trends.
Last year Deloitte has made a growth of 3%. They want to ensure a return of growth. That’s why they have made a tool, which is being offered to clients. It’s called the Innovation Maturity Assesment. With this tool, organizations can look how innovative they are. The results of this tool concluded that Deloitte is ‘heroïc and tribal’. This means that if there is something to renew, they will use it. But they did not provide enough resources for innovation.
After this conclusion of the tool, Deloitte decided to have a team of talented employees that study innovation of the consulting service for a year.
Deloitte takes account with the fact that innovation is a constant practice. I think that this is important to pay attention on, Deloitte react quickly on external changes.
zondag 14 februari 2010
KPMG: HALF OF THE BELGIAN COMPANIES ARE EXPECTING REVIVAL IN 2010
KPMG has made a study of the expectations in sphere of economy for 2010. Half of the managers all over the world think that the economy will recover in 2010. The other half take a different view of the matter.
Some of them considers that the revival of the economy will take place in 2011, others think in 2012 or even in 2013.
In Belgium, KPMG has interviewed 20 managers of companies in different sectors. Despite the crisis, firms continue to invest in their activities. Fifty percent of interviewed companies are expecting a recovery in 2010. Thirty percent think the resurgence will occur in 2011 and ten percent think it will happen in 2012.
World-wide, fifteen percent of companies say that the recession is unique and that they can’t fall back on their experience. In some countries in Europe, the figures are quite higher. It indicates that European firms have difficulties to outline a method to deal with the recession.
Does the government have to intervene in economy in times of crisis? In Belgium, thirty percent of the companies say that the government has done enough to stimulate the economy.
Twenty-five percent take the view that the government must guarantee a better and stronger regulation of the financial sector, though. In their opinion, that's the solution of the recession.
A quarter of Belgian companies think that a tax reduction would stimulate a revival.
In my opinion, the economy will start his revival in 2010. But I think that some companies will recover in 2011 or even later. Firms, belonging to the medical or pharmaceutical sector, will revive faster because their products are always important. In a slowing or booming economy, people need medication or medical care. They can’t delay to buy medicines.
The automobile sector, for instance, will have more difficulties because people can delay a purchase of a car.
The study of KPMG is an interesting issue because companies all over the world are interviewed. We can see that in some countries, the crisis is more noticeable than in other countries.
So, we can conclude that the repair of the economical crisis is depending on the circumstances, such as the sector, necessity of the product, the country, …
Some of them considers that the revival of the economy will take place in 2011, others think in 2012 or even in 2013.
In Belgium, KPMG has interviewed 20 managers of companies in different sectors. Despite the crisis, firms continue to invest in their activities. Fifty percent of interviewed companies are expecting a recovery in 2010. Thirty percent think the resurgence will occur in 2011 and ten percent think it will happen in 2012.
World-wide, fifteen percent of companies say that the recession is unique and that they can’t fall back on their experience. In some countries in Europe, the figures are quite higher. It indicates that European firms have difficulties to outline a method to deal with the recession.
Does the government have to intervene in economy in times of crisis? In Belgium, thirty percent of the companies say that the government has done enough to stimulate the economy.
Twenty-five percent take the view that the government must guarantee a better and stronger regulation of the financial sector, though. In their opinion, that's the solution of the recession.
A quarter of Belgian companies think that a tax reduction would stimulate a revival.
In my opinion, the economy will start his revival in 2010. But I think that some companies will recover in 2011 or even later. Firms, belonging to the medical or pharmaceutical sector, will revive faster because their products are always important. In a slowing or booming economy, people need medication or medical care. They can’t delay to buy medicines.
The automobile sector, for instance, will have more difficulties because people can delay a purchase of a car.
The study of KPMG is an interesting issue because companies all over the world are interviewed. We can see that in some countries, the crisis is more noticeable than in other countries.
So, we can conclude that the repair of the economical crisis is depending on the circumstances, such as the sector, necessity of the product, the country, …
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