For those standing outside the Big4 accounting firms who read our now regular posts pertaining to “en masse” employee departures, our reportage appears to be perceived as sensationalist or hyperbolic.

yes, youll get 100% more!

Not that the rest of our faux journalism isn’t sensationalalist or hyperbolic, of course!

But to the the extent that we have eyes and ears on the ground in the Big 4 (being in our view a comprehensive extent), the repeated intelligence we’re receiving is that in all groups, across all Big4 accoutning firms, the best quality, most highly rated people are leaving.

It is not until firms begin to make changes that impliedly recognise a skills issue, that the rumours we report can be substantiated.

And earlier this week, our spy from Ernst & Young had the following major scoop to report:

EY is apparently not paying bonuses this year, despite staff being told last year that a new bonus scheme was being implemented. Staff in tax are leaving in droves, and management are so desperate to recruit more people that they have doubled the recruitment referral bonus. For new starters under Manager level, this means you can get paid $8,000 for referring your mate (up from $4,000).

Doubling the referral bonus!?!

Is this the first concrete proof that a post-GFC skills shortage is now threatening the Big4?

Send the Firm Spy your news and views!

If you want to hear stories of disillusioned junior staff sticking it to the greedy partnerships that worked their fledgling fingers to the bone during the GFC, come to the Firm Spy. It has been mooted now for a couple of months, but we’re here to tell you, this 31 May 2010, that juniors are getting mobile and corporate Australia is set for a skills shortage. Our inbox is literally full of stories of recent corporate departures.

heading for the exit

But we’ll start with a focus on Ernst & Young - by far the most underreported of the Big4 accounting firms on Firm Spy. We received the following comments from an anonymous EY spy on the weekend:

Keep an eye out at Ernst & Young people walking left right and centre as EY continue to promote female technical divisions to run the practice. Over 10 seniors/manager have walked from the mid markets group in the last 6 weeks.

Are we sensing a hint of positive discrimination? Or just chauvenism from the spy?

Whatever the answer, the news of the departures must be the source of some ructions at the top of EY. Ernst & Young deputy chairman Michael Wachtel is said to have recently endorsed Gerard Dalbosco as Chief Executive based on his youth and ability to interact with juniors. As noted by BRW (14/4):

Wachtel views Dalbosco’s relative youth as a positive attribute in an industry where most staff are aged 20 to 40 years old, and staff retention is a big issue. Wachtel says:

“He might look younger compared to his [peer chief executives] but it makes him closer to the majority of the demographic in professional services firms. This is important in today’s society as leadership style. Nowadays, the notion that you lead merely by reference to those in control doesn’t exist. Younger people want to see a certain level of dynamic young leadership because they relate to it better.”

Perhaps Wachtel is too “old” to truly understand what younger people relate to. Either that, or the Ernst youngsters simply don’t find Dalbosco “dynamic” enough.

Other than being a corporate wank word, what is “dynamic” anyhow? We invite your comments. We also invite EY spies to comment on whether the relate to Dalbosco’s dynamism, or whether Wachtel and the board made a major mistake in appointing such a juvenile leader.

Send the Firm Spy your news and views!

With offices set to close over the Christmas break, it is interesting to see how the different firms are managing the shut down. We invite you to tell us how and for how long your office will close. Are you being given extra leave? Is it forced, involuntary leave?

EY partners missed this memo

Apparently staff at EY are none too happy with the involuntary leave being thrust upon them. This from an anonymous EY spy over the weekend:

Ernst and Young have shut down for 3 weeks during the Christmas break… this seems mighty similar to those people who were forced to take 3 weeks unpaid leave at PwC except they get to choose when to take theirs!

Indeed, PwC did implement an involuntary a leave of absence scheme earlier in the year which offered staff a choice of when they could take a total of three weeks leave over the course of the year. Similarly, KPMG implemented the “Temporary Work Arrangement” which availed to both staff and partners a range of means to manage any further reductions in work flows. However, given that work has picked up, it appears that the partners are attempting to resile from what was (we think) a reasonably generous original offer.

And this now leaves us with Ernst & Young: the firm that apparently decided against the implementation of any device to save jobs during the downturn or to give staff an opportunity to be heard in making decisions about leave. Poorly handled?

Send the Firm Spy your news and views!

Pop the champagne corks - we finally received some inside goss from inside Ernst & Young!

In response to our post earlier in the week profiling the ludicrous PWC CA policy, we received the following comments from an anonymous EY spy:

I’d like to mention that Ernst & Young also has the same policy to PwC in terms of failing 2 CA subjects and you’re out. But on top of that, if we fail a subject we owe E&Y $1k (per subject) for study assistance /time off etc. Can you believe it? We already work ridiculous hours to get through the piles of work AND we also have the added pressure of having to study and pass our CA subjects otherwise we could lose our jobs AND owe E&Y $1k! Theres really no such thing as “study assistance” because they’re gonna get their moneys worth anyway. Watch those fancy grad brochures… they are empty promises.

No, we can’t believe it either. As for fancy grad brochures … yeah, we’ve seen those too. Interesting how the finer details of “piles of work” and fanciful “study assistance” (read “undue stress caused by potential loss of salary”) never make the fine print of glossy firm spruiking, don’t you think?

EY spies - please keep up the good work. We need more from you, more often.

Send the Firm Spy your news and views

If you’re like us here at the Firm Spy, and you’re wondering to whom we can apportion blame for the disfigurement of

growing old gracefully

As noted in the Brisbane Times in relation to the investigation of Paul Hogan by the ATO’s Project Wickenby:

Ernst & Young’s involvement is described in several affidavits by a principal in its tax division, Marcus Davis… Ernst & Young employees who provided tax advice to Hogan include former partner John Hart, partner Paul Mclean, senior managers Seth Hertz and Despina Bakis, of Sydney, and Washington DC senior manager Paula Charpentier… [as well as] Clive Hinton and Con Boulougouris, both former Ernst & Young internal lawyers

One can assume that Hogan was well advised, seeing as how he could afford the estimated $50,000 in plastic surgery.  If only he had received as robust surgical advice: plastic surgeon Dr Kourosh Tavakoli noted of Hogan’s appearance:

Comparing his face colour and texture to his neck, my conclusions are that the operations he has had include a facelift, eyelid surgery, CO2 laser resurfacing and Botox treatments … My guess is that when he had his facelift, they decided not to do his neck, but he’s probably due for a neck lift.”

Anyway. The Beverly Hills Institute of Aesthetic & Reconstructive Surgery also commented that Hogan had failed to achieve a ‘natural’ look.

Do you like the new look Paul Hogan? Send the Firm Spy your news and views!

In a huge week for Big 4 accounting screwups gossip, the Firm Spy can today reveal new rumours of discreet sackings, but this time at Ernst & Young.

This from an Ernst & Young spy today:

We made a big public cut earlier in the year but since then there have been many other departures w

A poorly timed laugh at an underhanded departure

hich have not been reported. The people I have spoken to who know people in other areas that have left have said these departures were mostly involuntary, despite the firm telling us differently. I can say that in my own group, we have also had a few who have gone in suspicious circumstances… A lot of my co-workers are now worried that if these gradual job losses continue, we might all go too.

Hmmm… this sounds familiar! Is the corporate world degenerating into a new day-time soap opera?

Send the Firm Spy your news and views!

An Ernst & Young worker smooching her partner

You’ll recall earlier Firm Spy posts in respect of Accounting Firm job losses, including:

• the first wave of PWC redundancies;
• the second wave of PWC redundancies;
• the KPMG redundancies;
• the Goldman Sachs JB Were redundancies;
• the deferral of PWC graduate positions; and
• the cancellation of graduate positions at Fordham.

Today, the Firm Spy can reveal another devastating blow to the Accounting Firm sector; the sacking of nearly 100 staff at ‘Big 4’ constituent Ernst & Young.

An EY Firm Spy gave the following synopsis of the rationale behind the sackings:

‘people on certain clients, people who didn’t have a strong enough profile within the firm, people who didn’t spend their whole day smooching partners. For grads, it was based on chargeables… [but] we are [still] recruiting for 2010… A large number of the staff who got retrenched were in fact top performers ranging from graduates to managers. That’s right- they even sacked people who had only been with the firm since July.’

Do you believe these redundancies were well handled? Share your views and news!