Tax Advisory

This report provides Monadnock Research estimates for 2019-2020 US Tax Advisory and Compliance rates in the United States from our firm's continuous cross-industry consulting rate analysis of current negotiated master service agreements between clients and strategic firms. The report includes rate breakouts for Large Advisory Specialists, the Big Four, and Small and Mid-Sized Advisory Specialists, for each of the Tax Advisory and Tax Compliance Advisory rate sections. Mean and median hourly, daily and weekly rates are provided for the 15 most common categories of professional, with full detail on experience, education and customary titles for each professional level, along with Tax Advisory rate differential break-outs for 14 US large metropolitan markets in the US. (79 Pages, 30 Exhibits)...More

Table of Contents: (1) Big Four Fiscal 2018 Consulting Rankings and Audit Conflict Risk Metrics; (2) Jay Alix Loses Battle with McKinsey; But the AlixPartners/McKinsey Legal War Continues; (3) UK Regulator May Consider Alternatives to Proposed Split of Big Four Consulting and Audit Operations; (4) BDO USA Acquires Management Consultancy, AC Lordi; (5) Accenture Completes Acquisitions of Droga5 and ESP; (6) Consulting Leadership: Deloitte, EY, PwC, BearingPoint and Navigant; and (7) Thought Leadership: A.T. Kearney and PwC. (2,950 words)...More

This is the ninth annual report detailing our analysis of the Big Four's consulting practices, as they continue to seek organic growth and strategic M&A with a special focus on non-audit services. Fiscal 2018 global non-audit advisory services of the Big Four, including tax services, increased to $97.3 billion (USD) in fiscal 2018, an 11.8% increase over fiscal 2017 levels. Total non-tax consulting and advisory services of Deloitte, KPMG, PwC and EY were $63.6 billion, an increase of 13.1% over fiscal 2017. Overall, Big Four fiscal 2018 revenue was $148.21 billion, up 10.29 percent. Growth in advisory, however, contrasts with overall growth of 7.5% in audit revenue to $50.94 billion, up from an increase of 2.79% in fiscal 2017. We note that the Big Four continue to aggressively seek organic growth and strategic M&A in non-audit consulting and advisory services as their number 1 strategic priority. This Research Note offers an in-depth analysis of the growing conflict risk since 2010 po...More

This report provides Monadnock Research estimates for 2018-2019 Tax Advisory rates in the United States from our firm's continuous cross-industry consulting rate analysis of current negotiated master service agreements between clients and strategic firms. Mean and median hourly, daily and weekly rates are provided for the 15 most common categories of professional, with full detail on experience, education and customary titles for each level. A firm category break-out contains: The Big Four, and Small and Mid-Market Financial, Legal and Risk Advisory Specialists. (52 Pages, 20 Exhibits)...More

This is the seventh annual report detailing Monadnock Research's analysis of the Big Four's consulting practices, as they continue to seek organic growth and strategic M&A with a special focus on non-audit services. Fiscal 2016 global non-audit advisory services of the Big Four, including tax services, increased to $81.64 billion USD, a 5.48% increase over 2015 levels. Total non-tax consulting and advisory services of Deloitte, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young were $52.35 billion, an increase of 6.92% over fiscal 2015. Overall, Big Four fiscal 2016 revenues were $127.74 billion, up 3.23%. Growth in advisory, however, contrasts sharply with an overall decrease of 0.55% in audit revenues to $46.1 billion, up slightly from a decrease of 1.32% in fiscal 2015. This Research Note offers an in-depth analysis of the growing conflict risk posed by a rapidly increasing proportion of consulting to audit services at Big Four firms, and the paradox facing Big Four leaders as they ...More

This is the sixth annual report of Monadnock Research's analysis of the Big Four's consulting practices, as they continue to seek organic growth and strategic M&A with a special focus on non-audit services. Fiscal 2015 global non-audit advisory services of the Big Four, including tax services, increased to $77.4 billion (in USD here and throughout), a 5.49% increase over 2014 levels. Total non-tax consulting and advisory services of Deloitte, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young were $48.96 billion, an increase of 7.45% over fiscal 2014. Overall, Big Four fiscal 2015 revenues were $123.75 billion, up 2.83%. Growth in advisory, however, contrasts sharply with an overall decrease of 1.32% in audit revenues to $46.36 billion, down from growth of 2.32% last year. This Research Note offers an in-depth analysis of the growing conflict risk posed by a rapidly increasing proportion of consulting to audit services at Big Four firms, and the paradox facing Big Four leaders as they ...More

This is the fifth edition of Monadnock Research's published analysis of the Big Four's consulting practices, as they continue to seek organic growth and strategic M&A with a special focus on non-audit services. Fiscal 2014 global non-audit advisory services of the Big Four, including tax services, increased to $70.17 billion (in USD here and throughout), an 8.4% increase over 2013 levels. Total non-tax consulting and advisory services of Deloitte, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young were $42.36 billion, an increase of 9.9% over fiscal 2013. Overall, Big Four fiscal 2014 revenues were $120.34 billion, up 5.81%. Growth in advisory, however, contrasts sharply with an overall increase of 2.38% growth in audit services, up from 0.25% last year, to $50.17 billion. This Note highlights the growing risks of the ever-increasing proportion of advisory relative to audit services at Big Four firms. It also explores the paradox faced by Big Four leaders that have made strategic decis...More

Global non-audit advisory services of Big Four firms, including tax services, increased to $61.16 billion (USD) in fiscal 2012, a 9% increase over 2011 levels. Total non-tax consulting and advisory services of Deloitte, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young were $36.1 billion in USD, an increase of 12.06% over fiscal 2011. That compares to an overall increase of 6.42% for the Big Four across all service areas, and mean growth of just 3.4% in audit services. KPMG's audit revenues actually decreased by 1.62% in fiscal 2012. This is the third year Monadnock Research has published analysis of the consulting and advisory services operations of the Big Four. We note that the Big Four continue to seek organic growth and strategic M&A in non-audit advisory areas. This Research Note offers an in-depth analysis of that, highlighting the risks associated with a high and growing proportion of advisory to audit services at Big Four firms, and the conflict risk this unique mix of servic...More

Global non-audit consulting and advisory services of Big Four firms, including tax services, increased to $56.13 billion (USD) in fiscal 2011, representing a 12% overall increase from 2010 levels. With the proportion of consulting and advisory revenues increasing dramatically relative to those of audit at Big Four firms, conflict risk has become an issue that has the attention of regulators, clients and firms. Our analysis shows that the aggregated fiscal 2010-2011 ratio shift for audit to non-tax advisory revenues for the Big Four moved 1425 basis points toward conflict-risk, so it is clearly a big issue. Total non-tax advisory services of Deloitte, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young were $32.2 billion in Fiscal 2011, an increase of 15.85% over fiscal 2010. That compares to an increase in revenues of 9% for the Big Four across all service lines, and growth of 5.64% for audit services. This Research Note provides analysis of the Monadnock Research metrics that compare t...More

MR - Global non-audit advisory services of Big Four firms, including tax services, again broke the $50 billion (USD) mark in fiscal 2010 after retreating briefly in 2009, representing a 3.23 percent increase over 2009 levels. Total non-tax advisory services of Deloitte, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Ernst & Young were $27.8 billion, an increase of 8.1 percent over fiscal 2009. This Monadnock Research Note ranks the Big Four firms across their non-audit service categories. It also includes ratios of audit to non-audit advisory work for the Big Four, and provides MR perspective on what it all means to buyers, sellers, and regulators of associated services. Research Note includes 6 charts. (3,075 words)...More