EY Shortlisted for 8 Consulting Awards

[Tom Spencer]

ConsultingNews.com reports that EY’s UK advisory team has been shortlisted in 8 categories for the MCA Awards 2014, the highest number of shortlisted categories that EY has ever been nominated for.

 

According to Consutling News the MCA Awards are the benchmark for quality within the consulting industry. If this is true, then this is a strong sign for EY.  

 

With Deloitte acquiring Monitor in 2012, and PwC set to merge with Booz & Co this year, this is likely to put the advisory businesses of the other two big accounting firms (KPMG and EY) under pressure.

 

Do you think we will see more consolidation in the consulting industry in 2014?

[Sally McKenzie]

Hi Tom, 

 

In my opinion we are pretty likely to see more consolidation in 2014.  

 

I was reading today on ConsultingNews about Simon-Kucher & Partners whose revenues have this year exceeded £125 million mark for the first time. Simon-Kucher is a German-based firm which pitches itself as a global specialist having 27 offices in 22 countries. I think this firm would be an interesting takeover target for EY and KPMG.  

 

As you mention, Deloitte and PwC have made big consulting acquisitions in the last year. KPMG and EY will need to consider how they respond. There are big regulatory risks for accounting firms becoming too involved in consulting, but there are big growth opportunities also. KPMG and EY would risk being left in the dust if they sit on their hands for too long. 

 

That's my two cents.

 

Sally xx

[Tom Spencer]

Thanks for your thoughts, Sally. 

 

The PwC acquisition of Booz & Co hasn't gone through yet, but since it was approved by the Booz partnership at the end of December it is all but a fait accompli.  

 

I have grave reservations about the deal from a regulatory perspective, but I'm not sure that the regulators are strong or courageous enough to block the deal.

 

I'm in the process of writing a short piece on the PwC/Booz merger at the moment.