Big Five defectors boost Deloitte

Deloitte Consulting is strengthening its UK practice with partners who have defected from its Big Five competitors.

“We have had a lot of luck recruiting from other firms including KPMG, Andersen Consulting, PricewaterhouseCoopers and EDS,” said Ken Klinchy, director responsible for finance and IT at Deloitte Consulting. “There are more partners on the market, who are looking to move as a result of the merger. It caused people to step back and ask themselves: where am I going?”

The UK consulting practice hopes to take on more partners over the next six months, as it increases the number of consultancy staff in-line with the firm’s revenue growth, which was between 25 and 30 per cent over the last year.

The firm believes it will continue to profit from the PWC merger and the aborted KPMG and Ernst & Young merger.

“Partners come to us because we have globalised our business; the other firms don’t have the same global standards in HR, for example,” said Klinchy.

Across Europe the firm has also boosted partner numbers and promoted 11 consultants to partner status within its manufacturing, telecoms and finance sector.

Klinchy added: “Our practices are partner-led, which means that they are very close to what happens with our clients; that is one of our cultural differentiators.”

The firm has restructured its consulting practice worldwide to provide seamless services to its clients. As part of its global strategy all its consulting practices now have the same year end: 1June to 31 May.

And any profits made by partners are shared out across the firm at year end.

“This is just one more move towards a consistent global business model,” Klinchy said.