Consultancies battle Big Eight for recruits

Link: Job security means staff look to move on

PKF and RSM Robson Rhodes are recruiting heavily into their consulting practices, but both face strong opposition from both the top accountancy firms and consulting houses for work in the advisory services field.

Cath Hardaker, head of consulting at PKF, said that the firm is facing up to increasing competition, and is looking to take on more staff.

‘There’s essentially a Big Eight we are up against, which makes things more competitive. They’re still doing consulting,’ Hardaker said.

‘But the Big Four accounting firms has gone through change, therefore we are very well placed. We are having a very strong recruitment drive, from the bottom up.’

Ernst & Young, PwC and KPMG have all strongly denied that they will re-enter into ‘big-ticket’ IT consulting work.

E&Y UK chairman Nick Land told Accountancy Age that the firm will not rebuild a traditional consulting business.

‘We are not going back into IT consulting. That’s why we got out of the business, because consulting was becoming increasingly IT-centric – which had less and less connection with the rest of the business,’ he said.

Sukhbinder Heer, chief operating partner at RSM Robson Rhodes, said that the firm is not competing for FTSE100 compliance work – a stronghold for the Big Four.

‘But we will compete for advisory services against them,’ he said.

Meanwhile, KPMG has taken on a five-strong information security team from consultancy firm Capgemini and will be led by Jeremy White, the ex-head of LogicaCMG’s UK security practice.