By Rob Starr, Content Manager, Big4.com

The international management and technology consultancy BearingPoint  has developed a new solution to enable compliant derivatives reporting across the EU: the software application “ABACUS/TR”.

“Preparing for EMIR is a massive task for the derivatives industry. The changes are EU-wide and affect companies and financial institutions in both the private and public sectors. The effort involved in creating these transaction reports should not be underestimated – depending on the class of derivatives up to 100 pieces of data are required,” said Jürgen Lux, Partner at BearingPoint.

” Additionally, feedback from the trade repository must also be processed. ABACUS/TR sets a new standard in transaction reporting, using software that fully addresses the complex reporting requirements of EMIR. The standard software package will enable companies to become compliant in derivatives reporting in the very tight time frame available.”

The introduction of EMIR, the European Market Infrastructure Regulation, has led to a new approach in derivatives regulation and a substantial reporting burden. EMIR requires all derivative contracts be reported to trade data repositories from July 2013 onwards. Following publication of the “Technical Standards”, in September 2012, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) developed an extensive catalogue of data to be reported and only the tightest timetable for implementation.

from BearingPoint files

The post BearingPoint: Develops new business solution appeared first on Big4.com.

New BearingPoint solution

BearingPoint has developed a new solution to enable compliant derivatives reporting across the EU: the software application “ABACUS/TR”.

“Preparing for EMIR is a massive task for the derivatives industry. The changes are EU-wide and affect companies and financial institutions in both the private and public sectors. The effort involved in creating these transaction reports should not be underestimated – depending on the class of derivatives up to 100 pieces of data are required. Additionally, feedback from the trade repository must also be processed,” said  Jürgen Lux, Partner at BearingPoint.

” Additionally, feedback from the trade repository must also be processed. ABACUS/TR sets a new standard in transaction reporting, using software that fully addresses the complex reporting requirements of EMIR. The standard software package will enable companies to become compliant in derivatives reporting in the very tight time frame available.”

The introduction of EMIR, the European Market Infrastructure Regulation, has led to a new approach in derivatives regulation and a substantial reporting burden. EMIR requires all derivative contracts be reported to trade data repositories from July 2013 onwards. Following publication of the “Technical Standards”, in September 2012, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) developed an extensive catalogue of data to be reported and only the tightest timetable for implementation.

from BearingPoint press releases

The post BearingPoint: New business solution for EU derivatives reporting appeared first on Big4.com.

By Rob Starr, Content Manager, Big4.com      

Management and technology consultancy BearingPoint addresses the cloud in this year’s series of BearingPoint Institute reports. “In Cloud we trust?” examines how trust matters in computing as much as it does in business.  

The Cloud has been touted as the future of technology for years. As an IT Megatrend, Cloud Computing is already well established. Market share is solid and future prospects are promisingm, but the Cloud remains dogged by fears over data security, reliability and compliance. The temptation of near infinitely scalable resources at comparatively inexpensive cost held back by issues of risk and control. The result is stalemate, as enterprises remain uncertain whether they should commit to Cloud-based service delivery models.

 The BearingPoint research was commissioned to find a way forward. Their “Cloud Trust Pyramid” sets out what organisations should be looking for in their partnerships with Cloud service providers and how companies need to structure their own journey towards the Cloud. This paper also explores the geographical aspects of sourcing from cloud providers, with a map indicating the level of data protection from a European perspective.

Founded in 2009, the BearingPoint Institute is an incisive, authoritative voice on business-critical topics, which brings together the finest minds from both within and outside the BearingPoint organisation.

The post BearingPoint : Trust, not money will decide success of the Cloud appeared first on Big4.com.

By Rob Starr, Content Manager, Big4.com        

BearingPoint (www.bearingpoint.com) has expanded its geographical reach with the opening of a new office in Ukraine.
BearingPoint Partner Andrei Kriukov has been appointed as head of the Ukraine office. He has been working for the company for over 13 years and has experience in managing major projects for Russian and Ukrainian companies. BearingPoint’s Practice in Russia and the CIS Region is led by Natalia Krasnoperova, who has been General Director of the Moscow office since 2007.

“For BearingPoint, presence in one of the fastest growing markets in Eastern Europe is of strategic importance. The new office reflects our commitment to Ukrainian market and to Russia and the CIS region in general, entry to Ukraine is a major milestone for BearingPoint. This will enable us to use our global experience to contribute to national economic growth by offering leading IT and business technology solutions,” says
Peter Mockler, Managing Partner at BearingPoint.

Currently BearingPoint is implementing a major business processes transformation project for Ukraine’s largest company, metals and mining holding Metinvest. With this step the management and technology consultancy aims to develop cooperation with its key clients in this strategic region as well as expanding its client base through the new practice. BearingPoint is now represented in 16 countries and serves its clients globally through a network of strategic partners.

The post BearingPoint: Office in Ukraine Opened appeared first on Big4.com.

By Rob Starr, Content Manager, Big4.com    

BearingPoint will fund prizes for innovative and sustainable student projects in Europe for the third year in a row. 

Michael Donat, worldwide responsible for Human Resources at BearingPoint, comments: 

“Last year’s contest revealed the exceptional talent of students from European universities and colleges, from the birth of their idea through to final implementation. This third competition is an opportunity for new student teams to carry out ambitious and sustainable projects in partnership with BearingPoint.”   

This contest is open to all students/undergraduates from major European colleges, universities and business schools. Participating teams will have the opportunity to benefit from coaching from BearingPoint consultants to help them present their case. March 15, 2013: Closing date to register your team and the project online.

The winning project selected from each participating country (Germany, Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Switzerland) will receive a prize of € 6,000 and take part in the European Grand Final in Brussels for a chance to win a further €6,000. Student teams can register their projects until March 15, 2013, on www.beproject-europe.com.

BearingPoint delivers business consulting with management and technology capabilities. As an independent firm with European roots and global reach BearingPoint serves leading companies and public sector organisations world-wide to align and optimise processes, IT and operating models with business strategy. Driven by a strong entrepreneurial mindset and desire to create long-term partnerships, BearingPoint’s consultants are committed to delivering excellence and value to their clients

The post BearingPoint: Student entrepreneurship supported appeared first on Big4.com.

I recently placed a candidate in a considerably lower level role than I normally do. Most of my recruiting assignments are for senior level positions with experienced executives. It’s always personally rewarding to enhance someone’s career, both professionally, financially and personally, but this recent placement gave me a different buzz. One I remember liking from earlier in my own career. It’s the great feeling of making a difference in someone’s life, probably one they’ll always remember and knowing I helped create a turning point in their careers.

This also put me in mind of experiences placing  candidates coming directly out of Big 4 for the first time. I did my fair share of these transitions in the good old pre-IPO, pre-SOX days, circa mid-late 1990’s. Hard to believe the many changes that have occurred since, from Enron to the great recession. The one thing that hasn’t changed though is how young talent feels, making the leap of faith from a public accounting firm to private industry. I’m quite sure attorneys and accountants struggle with some of the same questions when leaving the world of prominent law firms and the Big 4. After all, they’ve been groomed for success and high expectations, pitted against their peers for recognition, fostered in an environment of similar professionals; all hard working, bright and ambitious up and comers. Some see a clear path towards partnership while others dread yet another busy season.

And then someone like me comes along – whispering in their ear of opportunity, title, compensation increases, the chance to have a more structured lifestyle. Maybe they’ll work just as hard, after all I believe cranking out the hours is just ingrained in the Big 4 psyche. Regardless of the inducement, there comes a time when the right opportunity hits a nerve and the considerations of change come into play.

What makes transitioning out of Big 4 so different? In addition to their accounting firm experience usually being their first role out of a college they were recruited from, there’s the comfort level of professional commonality and equality. Everyone starts off in a comparable position, with similar skills and education. Everyone is working towards the same goal. Expectations are set and met; there are mentors and an established pattern for growth.

It’s no wonder the thought of leaving the prestigious society created in their firms is such a difficult decision. Here the CPA can rely on mentorship, interesting work and variety. Their peers share the same workload, similar challenges and are bound together in a culture of hard work and long hours. And even though they have worked with and alongside their clients, going to work for them is a completely different ball game. Contemplating submitting their work for the Auditors to review, getting involved in everything from journal entries to financials and often a big challenge in learning how to motivate and lead non professional staff.  Leaving the cocoon of a big 4 environment is a daunting proposition and let’s face it – Managers and Partners will always encourage their star performers to stay.

Despite all the inducements to stay (excluding the long hours!), Big 4 talent often does make it’s way into the private sector. Most do it successfully, embracing private industry, thriving in new challenges and learning how to lead and motivate. Transitioning into the corporate world is almost a right of passage. Their talent is welcomed and embraced whichever side of the fence they ultimately choose.

Cindy Cremona, CPC has over twenty years experience as an Executive Recruiter. Her main focus is in Accounting and Finance, primarily placing senior level roles for clients mainly in the technology sectors.

The post Musings From Cindy Cremona, CPC – Recruiter Of Big4 Candidates appeared first on Big4.com.

Rob Starr, Big4.com Staff Reporter

BearingPoint (www.bearingpoint.com) has made a significant investment in the business analytics solution HyperCube by acquiring a majority percentage of the parent software company Effiscience (www.effiscience.org). By acquiring the technology, BearingPoint expands its service portfolio in the fast growing asset based consulting field and offers market-specific analytics applications.

With the transaction, BearingPoint addresses an increasing challenge facing many companies regarding their business performance and perspectives, namely, the effective use of increasingly available data in business processes. HyperCube offers a solution to quantify ‘big data’ with very high precision, to identify opportunities and hedge risks along the entire value chain. The software generates easy to understand formal rules immediately usable by end-users, improving the way companies make decisions.

HyperCube is a software developed in over fifteen years of advanced mathematical research in the scientific field. It has been continuously further enhanced to better reflect the needs of various industry segments and has been successfully implemented in a number of renowned companies. Its new non statistical approaches are enabled by a state of the art mathematical algorithm as well as massive computing capabilities provided in a cloud computing environment (SaaS).

HyperCube “constitutes an excellent reusable asset for BearingPoint’s consulting practice,” noted Alys Woodward, Program Manager, European Business Analytics, IDC.

“The integration of the software is important for meeting future needs of our customers in handling and using ‘big data’ in their business processes”, commented Peter Mockler, Managing Partner at BearingPoint. “Business analytics will become one of the most challenging prospective corporate requirements,” he said, adding the transaction is another important step in extending BearingPoint’s position as one of the leading international business consultancies.

BearingPoint’s acquisition and investment in this new software will compliment the firm’s established product and solution portfolio such as the regulatory reporting tool ABACUS and the Infonova product suite.

The post BearingPoint: Majority Share Acquired In “HyperCube” Software Technology appeared first on Big4.com.

Senior Manager, Global Retirement

AECOM is a global provider of professional technical and management support services to a broad range of markets, including transportation, facilities, environmental, energy, water and government. With approximately 45,000 employees…

http://www.big4.com/jobs/career/39590/Senior-Economist-Pennsylvania-Pa-West-Chester

Senior Economist

Moody’s Analytics Pennsylvania (PA), West Chester

Moody’s Analytics located in West Chester, PA, is a leading independent provider of economic, financial, country, and industry research designed to meet the diverse planning and information needs of businesses,…

http://www.big4.com/jobs/career/30255/Sr-Manager-Human-Resources-Organizational-Change-Management-California-Ca-El-Segundo

Sr. Manager Human Resources – Organizational Change Management

Mattel, Inc.  California (CA),                       El Segundo

At Mattel, we have a vision to Create the Future of Play. We will achieve this vision because our people are creative and energetic, thriving on innovation and passion for…

http://www.big4.com/jobs/career/30251/Senior-Accountant-Cpa-Georgia-Ga-Alpharetta

McKesson  Georgia (GA),                       Alpharetta

Healing the healthcare system starts with you. It starts with the chain of events you initiate when you work with McKesson Provider Technologies – a chain that extends across…

The post Jobs Of The Week For Big Four Alumni and Professionals Jan 2012-2 appeared first on Big4.com.

Rob Starr, Big4.com Staff Reporter

The development of IT solutions for regulatory reporting required by banking supervision law were reported by BearingPoint in cooperation with SAP AG earlier this year. BearingPoint’s ABACUS/DaVinci standard software will be integrated into SAP® Bank Analyzer and will be available under the name IRR (International Regulatory Reporting) through BearingPoint. With IRR, financial institutions can for the first time use a holistic software solution, which is based on German statutory duty of disclosure as well as on bank-wide management of the process of calculating, evaluating and analysing financial products, on an SAP platform.

BearingPoint and SAP support financial institutions in optimising their business and IT processes. With the new comprehensive regulatory reporting software IRR, they intend to provide significant added value in terms of advanced technology. Within the framework of the co-development agreement the two companies are working on integrating the results from reporting systems into SAP NetWeaver® Business Warehouse and comprehensively reflecting them in the SAP® BusinessObjects Enterprise Risk Reporting for Banking analytic application.

Werner Kreutzmann, Partner of BearingPoint and firm-wide leader for banking spoke about the innovation needed to make the venture a success.

‘Credit and financial-services providers benefit greatly from this innovative solution,’ he said. ‘The integrated platform not only saves costs and reduces the time needed to introduce new processes, but also minimises the effort for maintenance and adaptation to legal changes.’ BearingPoint will provide both software solutions: the IRR software, specialised to the needs of SAP Bank Analyzer clients, and the independent ABACUS/DaVinci standard software.’

The post BearingPoint: ABACUS/DaVinci Software Integrated appeared first on Big4.com.

This week Big4.com brings you KPMG’s financial results on Strong Business Growth Leads To US$22.7 Billion In
Revenues, Ernst & Young’s report on Risk Amid Continued Uncertainty In 2012
For Life Insurers, PwC’s findings that Gaming Revenues To Reach US$182.8
Billion, Accenture’s report on Cities Missing Smart Opportunity To Measure
Hidden Value, Deloitte’s Proposed Reform To Family Justice System, and Ernst
& Young’s analysis of Growth Expected In India’s Media and Entertainment
Industry.

Each week
Big4.com covers key news, events, happenings, opinions and blogs relating to
all the Big Four accounting and consulting firms. You can view this video our
website and on Big4.com’s channel on Youtube. So, let’s start with this week’s
round-up of the top news!

KPMG: Strong Business Growth Leads To US$22.7 Billion In Revenues

KPMG recently announced member firm
combined revenues totaling $22.7 billion for the fiscal year ending September
30, 2011.  The company recorded strong
growth across all functions. Audit revenues rebounded to grow 5.8 percent in
U.S. dollars, or 1.8 percent in local currency terms, to US$10.48 billion
against strong competition in the marketplace and a difficult business
environment. Tax revenues grew 13 percent in U.S. dollars, or 8.5 percent in
local currency terms, to US$4.69 billion. Advisory revenues rose 14.8 percent
in U.S. dollars, and 11.2 percent in local currency terms, to $7.54 billion.

Ernst & Young’s Risk Amid Continued Uncertainty In 2012 For Life Insurers

According to Ernst & Young’s new Global
Insurance Center US Outlook, there are several issues US life and annuity
insurance companies will need to grapple with in 2012. Among these are low
interest rates that should persist until at least 2013, increasing the risk of
spread compression for existing products. Insurers may also be challenged by
future Congressional efforts to reform the federal tax code. Implications exist
here for both corporate-level taxes and policyholder tax issues.

However, life insurers can leverage web technology to develop stronger ties to customers amid these other concerns.

PwC’s Gaming Revenues To Reach US$182.8 Billion

The release of PwC’s new annual report
“Global Gaming Outlook: The casino and online gaming market to 2015″ has some
interesting findings including the fact that spending in the US will rise by
5.0 per cent from US$57.5 billion in 2010 to US$73.3 billion in 2015.

Future casino upgrades and a
new casino licence will enhance the South African casino market as well, but
compared with the prior decade—when a number of new casinos opened—there will be relatively little growth from new casinos during the forecast period.

Accenture: Cities Missing Smart Opportunity To Measure Hidden Value

A new report published by
The Climate Group, Accenture, Arup
and Horizon Digital Economy Research at The University of Nottingham states
that cities are missing the opportunity to turn unused data and infrastructure
into new low carbon solutions and services.

The report Information
Marketplaces: The new economics of cities, indicates that while cities are using
information and communications technology (ICT) to improve their sustainability
and efficiency, they are not recognizing or measuring the full value of smart
initiatives. The report suggests cities should start with a common set of
metrics that can be translated into financial and non-financial values.

Deloitte: Proposed Reform To Family Justice System

Building
on the recommendations set out by the Family Justice Review panel in November
2011, Deloitte has proposed a new
model of service integration in the family court service.

These recommendations include Data analytics being used to measure service
effectiveness and predict when outcomes for children or young people may be
compromised by the system, enabling the organisation to be accountable to local
children, young people and citizens and commissioned targeted services on
behalf of a region with alternative financing vehicles for funding implemented.
Ernst & Young: Growth Expected In India’s Media and Entertainment Industry

A new study by Ernst & Young shows that India’s
growing digital media consumption and favorable demographics are key drivers
for future growth in the country’s media and entertainment industry.

With registered revenues of US$16.3 billion in 2010,
the Indian Media and Entertainment (M&E) industry is expected to see
revenues in excess of US$25 billion over the next four years according to the
report, ‘Spotlight on India’s Entertainment Economy’. The report notes India’s increasing per capita income,
growing middle class and working population are generating huge domestic demand for leisure and entertainment.

The post Check out the latest Big Four video (Dec 2011-2) appeared first on Big4.com.

And now many of the recent newsletters are available as an archive for your convenience.

The Big4 weekly newsletter is now archived here.

When you are there, be sure to sign up on the Email link to add your email to receive it directly to your mailbox.

If you are on our page on Facebook, you can also sign up there.

If you are on Facebook, you can also sign up here.

The post Big4 Newsletter Archives Now Available. Sign Up To Receive Email! appeared first on Big4.com.

We thank all members for their support!

The group is active.  LinkedIn’s new Career Discussions on our group are buzzing, with dozens of new opportunities being added each day. And so are discussions.

With such a large number, statistics become meaningful, and here are some interesting ones we gathered from LinkedIn:

  Current Company

• All Companies
• Deloitte (2855)
• Ernst & Young (1856)
• PwC (1804)
• KPMG (1446)
• Accenture (960)
• Deloitte Consulting (937)
• Capgemini (450)
• KPMG Advisory (272)
• IBM (207)
• IBM Global Services (162)
• Capgemini Consulting (109)

  Past Company

• All Companies
• Deloitte (6557)
• PwC (5039)
• Ernst & Young (4915)
• KPMG (4074)
• Accenture (2966)
• Deloitte Consulting (2030)
• BearingPoint (1320)
• Capgemini (1081)
• IBM (852)
• Oracle (495)
• IBM Global Services (460)

This shows we have a very focused group, and strive to keep it that way – by offering group membership to Big Four professionals, alumni and interested recruiters. We do try to read all profiles to ensure that this works; and do decline in cases we do not obviously spot such affiliations.

With LinkedIn now offering groups as an option for LinkedIn job posters and recruiters, maintaining that focus means that interesting opportunities come towards the group as also recruiters can narrow their search if needed to group members.

That advantage, in addition to increasing the individual group member’s network are some great reasons for the group to grow in a focused manner. You can share the group with your connections in LinkedIn too as your assistance.

Our group is around 80th of over 850,000 groups, so in the top 100, an achievement we are quite proud of, and could not be sustained without our members’s great support, and we are thankful for that.

Group members receive the Big4 newsletter each week, and are encouraged to sign up to get it right in their mailbox.

Keep that group activity going…and we’ll be in touch.

The post Big Four LinkedIn Group Now Largest, With 44,000 Members appeared first on Big4.com.

Charles Harper, Big4.com
July 12, 2010

More than a year ago, on March 25, 2009, we wrote about the imminent breakup of BearingPoint with business assets being sold to various Big Four firms and to BearingPoint Europe management (http://bigfouralumni.blogspot.com/2009/03/bearingpoint-breakup-imminent-business.html).

We said then, “BearingPoint and Deloitte have entered into an asset purchase agreement by which Deloitte will purchase a significant portion of BearingPoint’s largest business unit, Public Services, for a price of $350 million, subject to adjustment and customary closing conditions. “

We also surmised, “… The Public Services unit was strong and had good inroads into government consulting projects, Deloitte will certainly strengthen its government consulting business. Consider that Public Services had revenues of $1.4 billion in 2007 and gross profits of $263 million, so the sale price is only 1.5X gross profit.”

After a year or so, it appears according to a great article in The Washington Post by Marjorie Censer ( http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/25/AR2010062504342.html), things are looking quite well.

Deloitte did purchase the federal government consulting service business from BearingPoint after its bankruptcy in March 2009 and now reports $1.65 Billion in revenues, up from $1.43 Billion a year ago, a solid increase of $220 million in revenues or over 15% on the top line.

And The Washington Post reports that Deloitte is actually hiring, and doing so with enthusiasm, saying “This past year, Deloitte hired close to 1,400 people, and the firm is now planning to add 160 to 170 more per month. In particular, Deloitte is ramping up its cyber and health-care work. For instance, says the Post, the company nearly doubled its recruiters to meet its hiring demands.

Also, in the classic M&A analysis of pre-merger intersections of competencies, the customer and capabilities base has also expanded. Deloitte brings to the table an extensive array of audit, tax and Deloitte consulting services, but BearingPoint (the erstwhile KPMG Federal Services) has access to a larger set of clients, owing to its 35 years in the federal business.

Mr. Robin Lineberger, who was the prior head of BearingPoint’s public service practice is now chief at Deloitte’s federal government services business. And physically, the two companies are combined, bringing all consultants together at Deloitte in 5 1/2 floors in the Corporate Executive Board’s Rosslyn facility, having emptied BearingPoint’s former headquarters in McLean, Virginia.

Though just a few issues remain, according to the Post: 1) BearingPoint and Deloitte are still working through getting team and employee issues sufficiently integrated; 2) The companies are still working through legal issues associated with the merger; and 3) The companies are still in “need to hire aggressively” frame of operation, indicating that even if integrations were complete the unit still does not have enough people to do the job.

Uncle Sam is doing his bit by continuing to offer a proliferation of agencies, new regulations, stimulus packages and social media initiatives – all fodder for the consulting industry.

Consider also that Booz Allen Hamilton, which provides similar federal consulting services, is feeling strong enough to seek the Initial Public Offering market, and confident in going public, despite a tepid stock market. See our blog post on this – http://www.big4.com/?page=blog_item&url=you-can-shortly-own-a-piece-of-booz-570

Certainly there are all indications that continued and increased demand for federal consulting work does exist – what great news for federal consultants! Once considered less sexy and profitable than strategy consulting, federal consulting is certainly back in the limelight.

And for Deloitte and BearingPoint, it appears that the intended synergies are working out close to expectations at the beginning of the deal. And any company that is hiring these days makes for a good story and a happy ending.

Deloitte, BearingPoint, Federal Consulting, revenues, Lineberger, consulting, synergies, acquisition

The post Deloitte Realizes Synergies From BearingPoint Federal Practice. Thousands Hired. appeared first on Big4.com.

David Nelson, Big4.com

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

BearingPoint Launches Search Practice Based on Google BearingPoint becomes the first of the Big4 firms to start a new service solution to help enterprises install Google search solutions. The goal of Google s Enterprise Search Appliance is to enable the company employee to search for and locate relevant information from the organization s multiple data storage domains.

Anyone who works in a large company knows that data is often scattered in multiple formats all over: the user s local hard drive, the company network, the internal website and the external website. Locating such information, often at short notice, can be quite a challenge. The usual way is to email the author of the information or find some local guru and hope for the best in terms of a relevant reply.Install Google Enterprise and neatly cut through mountains of internal information to get to what you want.

Combine that with an external internet search (again on Google) and you can get a full picture of the internal and outside worlds. An ideal situation indeed.However, one of the biggest barrier that exists within a company is the large amount of confidential and personal information on company trademarks, processes, secrets and employees….the question for the software becomes how best to allow access to certain employees for certain types of information.

Security has to go hand in hand with any such installation. The challenge is not merely technical but equally contextual and human.Enter software vendors to help….and there are a large number of Google partners who can do such installations, but none as large or as global as BearingPoint (BE). The economics of this have to work right though for all parties. Companies have to likely pay Google a licensing fee and a service consulting charges for installation to BearingPoint.

The business case for search, though important, does not appear to be a critical hot priority for CIOs at least today. There is clearly no Adsense or Adwords to offset any costs…and what really is the saving or revenue generated by having a piece of information just that much faster than waiting for email from the local guru.

Try putting an ROI on that expenditure!

BearingPoint seems pretty enthusiastic about this new service, talk is that several dozen consultants are already part of this solution set. Google s Enterprise Service has seemingly doubled over a year, and the rapid "consumerization of the enterprise" according to BearingPoint is upon us soon. Clearly the Big4 will be now looking to Google as a large enterprise software provider such as SAP, Peoplesoft, Oracle or JDEdwards, which spawned huge solution practices as companies went on a spin to install ERP in the nineties.

Imagine Dilbert not only Googling away on the larger internet but also equally pleased with an internal Google toolbar and search. A hope that search consultants will depend on much as they pitch their wares to their clients.

The post BearingPoint Launches Search Practice Based on Google appeared first on Big4.com.

Rob Starr, Big4.com
July 8, 2010

While most people are lauding the new move toward utilizing all the advantages that the Internet generation affords business, at least one consulting firm is saying the abundance of customer service contact points is confusing.

In other words, is too much social media just too much for business?

BearingPoint Ireland has just released a report that says what was once a seamless system for customer contact has now become muddled and that’s in part to the rush toward social media. Websites like Twitter and Facebook are gaining a steady popularity as a business tool as well as social platform and the result according to BearingPoint Ireland is a confused customer service base that quite often needs to rebuilt itself.

One of the new aspects firms need to grapple with is the immediacy of these social media platforms. As an example, one product or service issue can have an entire community ‘talking’ online instantly before the firm has even had a chance to properly respond.

BearingPoint Ireland also points out in their report the thirst the average consumer feels for the immediacy in their new found relations with the brands they choose may undergo constant transformations as people look for deeper and more enriching experiences.

The report goes further than to just predict a change in the way that customer service will work in the near future. It also states many companies will need to go the route of becoming more like showrooms. This new concept is described as retail-tainment and it involves a movement toward an internet based interaction with clients in cyberspace.

Martin McKenna, partner for BearingPoint Ireland, points to the fact that many UK banks have adopted the interactive approach that was championed by companies like Nokia and Apple where customers can actually interact with the products they are interested in before they do purchase.

Most organizations are struggling with providing a seamless service because of the abundance of customer contact points, and this is straining the IT infrastructure, which his trying to keep up with traditional CRM systems which were developed long before the impact of social media.

So, there does appear to be a flip side to the enormous benefits of social media, and while legacy systems will ultimately adjust themselves to new breakthroughs, in the meantime, they will indeed find it difficult to manage the anarchy in CRM.

Social media, CRM, BearingPoint, customer service, IT systems
 

The post Is Social Media Creating Customer Service Anarchy? BearingPoint Thinks Yes. appeared first on Big4.com.

David Nelson, Big4.com
June 22, 2010

Just a few weeks ago, we blogged about Booz & Company, the management consulting firm exploring a merger with another leading management consulting firm, A.T. Kearney. (http://www.big4.com/?page=blog_item&url=at-kearney-boozes-big-four-firm-stay-sober-538)

Now, the other Booz is in the news.

Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Company, which offers consulting services to the US government, is planning to go public soon. Booz Allen Hamilton (the name that most people are probably familiar with) was sold to Carlyle Group in a leveraged recapitalization in July 2008 for $2.54 billion, with the private equity investors putting in $1.2 billion of their own equity. Booz Allen Hamilton was spun off from the overall Booz company, retaining the original name, with the other group being called Booz & Co. Booz Allen Hamilton has 2010 revenues of $5.2 billion, $25 million net income and 23,000 consultants offering management consulting, engineering, IT and systems development and integration services supporting mission-critical programs to the US government.

The principal stockholder in Booz is Explorer Coinvest LLC, controlled by Carlyle, which owns 79% of outstanding common stock.

Now, just two years later, Carlyle is filing for a $300 million Initial Public Offering of Class A common stock. And during this time, private equity has not been sitting on their hands either.

In a sweet recapitalization deal, private equity investors pulled out about $550 million of cash through a one-time special dividend in December 2009 that saddled the company with additional debt, but also reduced the net initial investment and the consequent business risk by 50% . Now Booz’s total net debt is $1.3 billion on March 31, 2010, and the IPO proceeds will be used to directly pay down the Mezzanine Credit Facility of $550 million, which is being borrowed at a near junk rate of 13%. No share volume or share price has been set for the offering.

One might argue that this is perhaps not the best time for IPOs, which have been quite scant of late, and Carlyle may not be able to realize its target price or even sell the target number of shares that it intends to. However, the sale would be immediately value producing as it would effectively reduce the interest expense to the firm, which at 13% is turning out to be quite expensive.

Now, you can own a part of this storied firm, if you do believe that it has good prospects. You do have to wade through the 1,115 page filing to do your bottoms-up analysis, or you can call your broker, or just throw some Mad Money at it.

In either case, whether you end up making any money on it, you will make Carlyle richer.

Booz Allen Hamilton, Carlyle, IPO, government consulting, private equity, shares, debt
 

The post You Can Shortly Own A Piece of Booz Allen Hamilton appeared first on Big4.com.

James Spencer, Big4.com
June 22, 2010

George Osborne, the current Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom seems to have finally got his wish and managing to get the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) wound up. The Conservative’s "White Paper" on City regulation will call for the erstwhile financial regulatory structure to be dismantled owing to its less than desired response to the financial crisis. Under the new proposal, the FSA’s powers will be transferred back to the Bank of England, and it will cease to exist. Its three key responsibilities:

Supervising banks and other financial institutions
Consumer protection
Law enforcement

will be moved to the Bank of England and two new legal and consumer agencies.

What will this mean for the Big Four firms (Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers)?

The FSA has had an increasing role in the regulation of the Big Four Accounting Firms, especially in recent years:

It imposed a record £750,000 fine on Deloitte & Touche Wealth Management for systematic and prolonged compliance failures (http://www.accountancyage.com/accountancyage/news/2034588/fsa-imposes-record-fine-deloitte)

KPMG got into some trouble with the FSA regarding the regulatory risk function and its worrying audit of the failed bank Halifax Bank of Scotland

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/02/11/52344/fsa-sok-kpmg-said-hbos-was-fine/

and PricewaterhouseCoopers UK had to deal quite closely with the FSA over the Lehman bankruptcy (http://www.ukmediacentre.pwc.com/content/detail.aspx?releaseid=2880&newsareaid=2)

Ernst & Young was fined £500,000 for its role as auditor of Equitable Life, the insurance company which nearly collapsed. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/insurance/7804450/Ernst-and-Young-fined-500000-over-Equitable-Life-collapse.html)

The FSA, seeing the accountancy firms as another part of the regulatory structure, was looking more and more closely at the key role that the Big Four auditors were playing in the operation of financial companies, and as industry players in their own right.

But….while all this trouble was going on, there were revenue and market opportunities being created by the FSA.

The FSA was starting to tap the big four for talent, sometimes at a very senior level (http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Library/Communication/PR/2008/053.shtml), while at the same time creating good IT transformation projects at the large banks (http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/01/13/234173/1631bn-for-single-customer-view-could-be-money-well-spent-for.htm). Understanding FSA directives and dealing with its instructions did become a service offering for clients at the Big Four firms too ( http://www.pwc.co.uk/eng/services/regulatory_and_psb.html)

So, with this large development, the question is whether the current state of affairs will continue.

We seem to think it will – the dual tensions of additional focus from regulators and the creation of market opportunities are not likely to go away soon.

While the Bank of England does not have the same worries or intense focus about the Big Four that the FSA was starting to develop, this is not going to let the Big Four off the hook. Despite the radical sounding nature of George Osborne’s break up, the fact is that the personnel are coming over from the FSA almost in one piece will be functioning as a self contained division within the Bank of England – the FSA’s director Hector Sants is now a Deputy Governor of the Bank of England.

There will be a new letterhead and phone number, but the folks now within the Bank of England will still have the same focus on the Big Four.

As the old saying goes….the more things change, the more they remain the same.

George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, UK Financial Services Authority (FSA), Bank of England, Big Four

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BearingPoint and West Monroe Partners in Global Alliance

As many may recall, the US BearingPoint firm essentially went into bankruptcy in 2009, with PwC buying the US commercial consulting business and Deloitte purchasing the federal governmental consulting practice. The European part of BearingPoint was bought out by the local management who continue to operate the firm under the erstwhile name with 3,250 people in 14 European countries focused on commercial, financial and public services clients. And it appears they have been working hard behind the scenes.

We now see that BearingPoint is extending its reach beyond the Atlantic with a strategic consulting alliance with West Monroe Partners. West Monroe Partners has a number of ex Andersen partners in its top management (Belanger and Bue come to mind), and appears to take its name from the formidable Andersen headquarters in Chicago at 33 West Monroe. The firm has experienced good success – a revenue growth of more than 450% over the past 5 years

So the intent of this alliance is to help each party expand their global market coverage and better provide services to their international clients. This complementary joining brings together BearingPoint’s European connections with West Monroe Partners’ North American presence. Both firms will refer business opportunities, collaborate on client work in Europe, North America and beyond and share intellectual capital; but only on projects which need global reach.

Both Peter Mockler, Managing Partner at BearingPoint and Dean Fischer, President & CEO at West Monroe Partners are excited about this partnership. This is a good example of how consulting firms with specified geographic coverage can rapidly extend their presence in international markets by allying with non-competitive partners. All the more interesting is that this brings together consultants who are alumni of KPMG and Andersen in a compelling new arrangement.

This kind of symbiotic collaboration also means that both firms can point to this global alliance to their clients who are becoming increasingly global on their own and seeking unified cross border expertise. With this kind of alliance, there are always challenges of turf, revenue sharing and performance credit, and we can hope that these issues have been worked out quite well for a mutually beneficial relationship.

For more on this, check out the press release:

http://www.westmonroepartners.com/en/West-Monroe-News/Press-Releases/Press-Releases/BearingPoint-and-West-Monroe-Partners-enter-into-a-Strategic-Consulting-Alliance.aspx

BearingPoint, West Monroe Partners, alliance, Europe, North America, consulting

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Monday, November 24, 2008

Earlier, we had blogged on how BearingPoint’s stock had fallen below 20 cents a share, clearly others were also taking notice. Just days ago on November 13, 2009, BearingPoint, Inc. received notice from NYSE Regulation, Inc. that the NYSE had decided to suspend BE’s common stock from trading prior to market opening on Monday, November 17, 2008. The NYSE based its decision on the “abnormally low” trading price of BE common stock, which closed at just 7 cents on November 12, 2008. Further, BE had previously fallen below the NYSE’s continued listing standard for minimum average closing price of $1.00 over a consecutive 30 trading day period and minimum average market capitalization of $100 million over a consecutive 30 trading day period.

BearingPoint is appealing the decision. Nonetheless the stock is out of the NYSE for now and trades as BGRP.PK on the OTC (Over the Counter) exchange as a so-called penny stock on pink sheets. The stock price is not much more than a penny, falling to just 4.5 cents a share on November 24, 2008, and reaching an abysmal low of 2.5 cents on November 18, 2004. With 220 million shares outstanding, the market capitalization of this stock is about $10 million, while its revenue is close to $3.5 billion or $10 million for each day of the calendar year.

Again, we ask, where does this lead, will BearingPoint finally become a private company and be spared of daily market valuations. Really, at this price, even an ESOP could buy out the equity interest.

The post BearingPoint Delisted from NYSE, Stock Less Than a Nickel! appeared first on Big4.com.

Thursday, October 09, 2008

We blogged earlier that BearingPoint stock had touched its all time low of 50 cents a share in September. But that was before the current meltdown in the financial markets, with today’s (October 9, 2008) shocking drop in the Dow of ~ 700 points, BearingPoint’s stock has fallen further amazingly to an even lower all-time low of 20 cents, touching at one point an intra-day low of 17 cents.The entire company’s market capitalization is now only about $40 million, this for a consulting firm in annual sales in excess of $3 billion.

BearingPoint’s stock price is now less than a pack of Wrigley’s gum.

If there is any value to be created, this may be a time to go private, if of course there is a willing investor and a receptive debt market to absorb the risk and make the dollars available for this transaction.

The bar is so low, but we ask, are there any takers?

The post BearingPoint (NYSE: BE) stock price drops to 20 cents! appeared first on Big4.com.

On September 19, 2008 just a week ago, BearingPoint (NYSE: BE) stock hit a new 52 week and all-time low of just 50 cents a share. Based on the 218 shares outstanding, the market capitalization on that day was only $109 million. Add this to about $650 million in debt to come to an enterprise value of $759 million.

These is an astounding stock price. At sales of $3.4 billion, the price to sales ratio is 0.03 or that sales are almost thirty times the market capitalization. Market capitalization per each of the 15,900 employees is only about $7,000 less than an month’s salary for a typical consultant.

BE’s June 2008 2nd quarter actually produced net income of $18 million when analyst were expecting a loss of $18 million, a 200% surprise, which however did nothing to the stock price, down to historic lows today from heady heights of high teens in 2001.

We have asked the question earlier whether BE should continue as a public company, with such low market capitalizations, the case for privatization becomes even stronger. The question is whether investors have the risk appetite and can even find the credit to consummate such a deal.

The post BearingPoint (NYSE: BE) Stock Price Hits All Time Low – 50 Cents appeared first on Big4.com.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

BearingPoint is very likely to break apart very soon, and sell all its businesses to either other Big4 firms or to local management teams. According the company’s press release on March 23, 2009, all parts of BearingPoint have been sold / in the process of being sold / likely to be sold in different parts to different parties as below:

“BearingPoint and Deloitte have entered into an asset purchase agreement by which Deloitte will purchase a significant portion of BearingPoint’s largest business unit, Public Services, for a price of $350 million, subject to adjustment and customary closing conditions. “

“BearingPoint has signed a non-binding letter of intent to sell a substantial
portion of its North American Commercial Services business, including its Financial Services segment, to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP for $25 million.”

“PwC Advisory Co., Ltd. (PwC Japan), a PricewaterhouseCoopers firm operating in Japan, is also in advanced negotiations to acquire the Company’s consulting practice in Japan.”

“BearingPoint is in late-stage negotiations with its local management teams to sell its
European and Latin America practices.”

“Further, BearingPoint is in separate negotiations with other parties and local management to sell various Asia Pacific practices, separate from Japan.”

While only the US part of BearingPoint was declared bankrupt with international organization remaining outside bankruptcy, it appears that a total sale of the company including domestic and foreign entities was the only feasible solution.

First, it appears that the big pieces of BearingPoint are “staying within the Big4 family” the key Public Services franchise and North American Commercial Services are being sold to Deloitte and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Second, the total known sum of sales comes to $375 million plus the amount to be realized by sale of international businesses. The Public Services unit was strong and had good inroads into government consulting project, Deloitte will certainly strengthen its government consulting business. Consider that Public Services had revenues of $1.4 billion in 2007 and gross profits of $263 million, so the sale price is only 1.5X gross profit.

Third, the sum-of-parts valuation turned out to be clearly higher the than trading value of BearingPoint. On the day of announcement, March 23, 2009 late in the day though, the stock moved up to almost 20 cents a share, with market capitalization of 4.4 million shares * 0.2 = 0.8 million, prior to announcement, the stock was trading at 10 cents a share, and today March 25, 2009, it has come back to 9 cents a share.

As we said before, we mourn the passing of one of the Big4 firms, the KPMG Consulting spin-off, but given all the challenges faced by BearingPoint and the precipitous decline in share price and investor confidence, an internal breakup and sale were the only sensible solutions available at this time.

The post BearingPoint Breakup Imminent, Business Parts Sold to Multiple Buyers appeared first on Big4.com.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Today, BearingPoint, Inc. announced “it has achieved a financial restructuring agreement with its senior secured lenders that will significantly reduce its debt and improve its capital structure.”

In other words, the firm is bankrupt.

And it has file for voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the Southern District of New York only for the US operations though

BearingPoint says this filing was made with a “pre-arranged” restructuring plan with senior secured lenders, and will likely move this as fast as possible. Clearly, the firm examined all its available options and chose to pursue this alternative, indicating that all and any efforts to find a buyer were not fruitful.

In essence, the firm and its senior secured lenders agree to the proposed pre-arranged plan of reorganization with these key constituents:

(1) replace the $500 million senior secured credit facility with a new secured, senior credit facility: $272 million term loan plus accrued interest. $130 million synthetic letter of credit facility and issuance of new preferred stock
(2) unsecured debt will be exchanged for different classes of common stock
(3) all existing equity in the Company will be cancelled for no consideration.

How does this impact BearingPoint?

First, most of the debt is gone. And so does the burden of paying principal and interest, and buying back debentures some of which were coming due in just weeks. And the obligation to purchase all debt when the company’s stock is delisted from the NYSE is gone too.

Day-to-day operations are expected to continue as “normal”, as much as normal is under these circumstances, and clients evaluate their projects and contracts with a bankrupt vendor.

There is going to be an immediate impact on BearingPoint’s employees. Not that this was unexpected, since everyone could see the stock price dip each day to new lows. But the firm’s employees may now take a deeper look at their situation and evaluate their options.

We have been saying all along that some kind of end-game needs to happen at this time, either a buyout or a sale, with bankruptcy being the silent but necessary point of last resort.

Andersen folded when the Department of Justice made a criminal case against the firm (eventually overturned) but it was a viable financial entity at that point.

The fall of BearingPoint was driven by mismanagement both of the financials and of the firm. A company with over $3 billion in sales should not have a market capitalization of less than $2 million, it doesn’t make sense.

We mourn the loss of a Big Four firm, and trust that BearingPoint can find a viable avenue to return to strong operating performance.

The post BearingPoint Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Today appeared first on Big4.com.

Sunday, October 28, 2007

BearingPoint recently reported its Q2-2007 results for its second quarter of 2007 ending June 30, 2007….BE is catching up on contemporaneous SEC reporting, so this is for results achieved almost four months ago

Revenue for Q2-2007 were $875 million dropping from Q2-2006 levels of $893 million, and gross profit was $142 million, declining a whopping $49 million from $191 million prior. As a result net income (loss actually) widened to $(64) million from $(2) million in prior quarter.

This is by no means great performance, the large drop in operating profit of $49 million appears operational in terms of revenue decrease and people related in terms of an increase in stock based compensation. Here’s what BE had to say about it in their 10-Q:

Our gross profit for the three months ended June 30, 2007 was $142.5 million, a decrease of $49.0 million, or 25.6%, compared with gross profit for the three months ended June 30, 2006 of $191.6 million. Gross profit as a percentage of revenue decreased to 16.3% during the three months ended June 30, 2007 from 21.5% during the three months ended June 30, 2006. This decline was the result of decreases in revenue and increases in professional compensation due primarily to stock–based compensation related to our February 2007 grant of PSUs, which more than offset a decrease in other direct contract expenses.

To dig into the operational performance, we reproduce the segment detail from the 10-Q, it appears that Public Services is holding its own for the most part (this is all Governmental services), but Commercial and Financial Services are really hurting, so BE is able to play the Federal side well, but not making headway in general business consulting. EMEA is up, much as Europe seems to be doing well, but Latin America swung to a loss.

Three Months Ended June 30,

2007 2006
Operating Operating
Revenue Income (Loss) Revenue Income (Loss)

Public Services $359,494 $ 67,782 $341,081 $ 70,652
Commercial Services 133,973 19,187 159,323 40,380
Financial Services 70,761 6,536 112,170 32,984
EMEA 196,988 32,691 170,427 26,687
Asia Pacific 89,925 19,761 89,627 18,858
Latin America 23,281 (1,021) 18,660 1,070
Corporate/Other 924 (177,112) 1,392 (175,969)

Total $875,346 $ (32,176) $892,680 $ 14,662

In terms of BearingPoint stock, it was damaged severely by a 12% drop in a single day not that long ago, reaching new lows, and as of October 27, 2007 it was $4.62 per share, close to 52-week lows. Obviously investors are not happy with this performance and appear to have little confidence in the stock. At this price level, BE’s market capitalization is only $948 million, a prime candidate (as we have said before) for a MBO or LBO, which even despite these tough credit markets could very likely happen.

The post BearingPoint Q2-2007 Results: Loss Widens, Gross Profits Drop appeared first on Big4.com.

BearingPoint Inc. dropped almost 13% to $4.80 today in mid-day trading hitting a new all-time low. BE shares have traded between $5.49 and $9 in the past 12 months.

Late last week, the company revealed in a SEC filing that net loss for Q1-2007 reduced as sales increased and costs declined. Quarterly net loss of $61.7 million or 29 cents per share improved from loss of $72.7 million, or 34 cents per share in Q1-2006. However, revenue edged up 4% to $866.3 million from $833.7 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial were expecting revenue of $877.5 million.

Upon this news, many analysts reduced their 2007 earnings expectations on seeing slower-than-expected margin improvements. Yet investors and analysts fretted over company base costs which didn’t go down far enough and anticipated to continue at this level. 2007 earnings estimates as a results were drawn down. Equity analysts estimate Q2 and Q3 of 2007 to come in at 7 cents per share and Q4 at 8 cents per share.

According to news reports, analysts uniformly reduced their EPS and target price, but kept their revenue estimates unchanged as they believe the top line continues robust and the issues lie in the cost side of the company. Sales for the year are expected to be around $3.6 billion.

The Citigroup analyst dropped his Q2-2007 EPS estimates to 2 cents from 12 cents; Q3 to 4 cents from 9 cents; and Q4 to 10 cents from 18 cents. Overall this is a cumulative drop of 23 cents putting the year at 18 cents.

JPMorgan says 2007 estimates are only 3 cents per share on sales of $3.54 billion. Previously JPM had 39 cents EPS on sales of $3.56 billion expectations.

Goldman Sachs also lowered 2007 EPS by 23 cents to only 5 cents for the year.

All in all, continued poor performance, instability in the financials, losses in clients, high involuntary turnover and delayed reporting are all taking their toll on investor confidence and on the stock price.

The post Ouch! BearingPoint Stock Dives 12% to New Low appeared first on Big4.com.

A few weeks ago, BearingPoint (NYSE:BE) filed its 10K for 2006, later than what the SEC allows for companies to file after the end of their fiscal year, but none the less good timing for BE given their past history. Most of the numbers were known to investors anyway so this was a formality. In terms of Q1-2007, BearingPoint indicated lower quarterly sales than the previous year, but mildly better than the previous quarter. Of concern is the voluntary turnover rate of almost 25%, indicating that one-fourth of the professional population is leaving each year, what is not reported is the turnover by managerial grade. Headcount was also lower in the quarter, which means that BE is hiring less than the turnover rate.

Investors are not buying though. BearingPoint stock today is at $6.38, its lowest level in two full years, and a steep drop from June 2007. Improved financial performance and sentiment is necessary to get the stock price back to higher levels.

Or else, look out for a management purchase of the entire company. The market capitalization is only $1.3 billion at this stock level, and the sales of BE are close to $3 billion.

BearingPoint Files 2006 Form 10-K
Company Provides Business Metrics for Q1 2007

MCLEAN, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–June 28, 2007–BearingPoint, Inc. (NYSE:BE), a leading global management and technology consulting firm, said today that it has filed its 2006 Form 10-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

BearingPoint’s CEO, Harry You, stated, “By filing our full year 2006 financials, we have taken another significant step toward returning to timely filing our periodic reports with the SEC. The business is strong and we continue to see great demand for our services.”

Q1 2007 Key Metrics

BearingPoint reported key business metrics for the first quarter ended March 31, 2007, which were driven by solid performance in the Company’s core business and continued traction in the marketplace. Highlights include:

– Bookings of $709.5 million for the first quarter of this year,
a modest sequential increase over $699.0 million in the fourth
quarter of 2006 and a decrease from $804.6 million in the
first quarter 2006, with the decline primarily attributable to
growth in newly signed, but unfunded Federal contracts which
BearingPoint does not include in bookings until related
appropriations are approved.

– Voluntary total employee turnover of 23.9%, an increase from
21.2% in the fourth quarter of 2006 and a slight improvement
from 24.2% in the first quarter 2006.

– Total workforce utilization of 76.6%, down slightly from 77.4%
in the fourth quarter of 2006 and a solid increase from 73.4%
in the first quarter 2006.

– Billable headcount of approximately 15,200, a slight decline
from approximately 15,300 in the fourth quarter of 2006 and
15,400 in the first quarter of 2006.

The post BearingPoint Files 10-K for 2006, but Investors Wary appeared first on Big4.com.

Saturday, February 03, 2007

We notice that BearingPoint (NYSE: BE) has recently appointed a new President and COO, Ed Harbach, reporting to Harry You, CEO. Interestingly Ed Harbach also comes from Accenture, we believe where Harry You also spent some time as CFO. He is being awarded around 900,000 restricted stock units to vest over four years. BE stock has been flat recently, so if things turn around, there can be good upside for Mr. Harbach.

Here is the official release from BearingPoint

BearingPoint Appoints Ed Harbach as President and Chief Operating Officer

McLean, Va. (Jan. 9, 2006) – BearingPoint announced today that it has appointed Ed Harbach as president and chief operating officer and a member of the Office of the CEO. Mr. Harbach will be responsible for day-to-day operations across BearingPoint, with operational oversight of its business units. Mr. Harbach has more than 28 years of experience in the management and technology consulting industry and retired as a managing partner and member of the leadership team at Accenture. During his tenure at Accenture, Mr. Harbach served as chief information officer, managing partner, Japan and managing partner, Client Satisfaction and Quality.

“With his proven ability to tackle operational challenges, drive business results and increase client satisfaction, Ed will be instrumental in helping us make the final push on our business turnaround and execute our strategy for long-term growth,” stated Harry You, CEO of BearingPoint.

Mr. Harbach said, “I am thrilled to join BearingPoint, a company known for its exceptional people and commitment to client success. I look forward to leading the organization to greater operational efficiency so that its momentum continues to build.”

Mr. Harbach graduated from Miami University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Systems Analysis and currently resides in Miami, Fla. with his wife.

In connection with Mr. Harbach’s employment, the BearingPoint’s independent compensation committee approved an award of 888,325 restricted stock units, which vest ratably over four years.

The post BearingPoint Gets New COO, Ed Harbach appeared first on Big4.com.

Sunday, November 26, 2006

It looks like BearingPoint, Inc. (NYSE: BE) did file its 2005 Form 10-K at 5:42 pm on Wednesday, November 22nd, one day before Thanksgiving and upholding its promised deadline. Here are some highlights:

2005 revenue at $3.38 billion remained flat from 2004 revenue
2005 net loss at $(721) million was worse than 2004 net loss at $(546) million. In the six months ending December 2003 net loss was $(176) million and the six months ending June 2003, net income was $32 million. So it appears that the negative income trend really started in July 2003
2005 ending cash was $377 million, which actually increased by more than $100 million from 2004 ending cash of $265 million. Debt increased by $250 million, so some of this cash increase was from additional debt

The biggest driver of decreased operating margin from 2004 to 2005 was a dramatic drop in the Commercial Services segment which decreased from $130 million to a loss of $(11) million, due to cost overruns and cost accruals, specifically from one large Hawaiin Telecom contract where BE (NYSE: BE) had a negative income of $113 million

Investors, frankly, were not surprised, having almost anticipated these numbers. All the analyst reports that we read seemed to think this was a formality and were more looking forward to 2006 and 2007 numbers. Some analysts were quite bullish while some viewed this as a mild positive to the stock. “Investor relief”, “absence of overhang”, and “focus on fundamentals” indicate that buy-side managers will now focus on what lies ahead.

BearingPoint (NYSE: BE) also released Q3-2006 numbers, which look a lot better than 2005:

Bookings of $811 million, consistent with Q2 of 2006 and a five percent increase over the same quarter in 2005. Total bookings for the first nine months of 2006 were approximately $2.4 billion (Our take: Revenue higher than 2005 indicates that, despite all its internal troubles, the company is still able to attract clients)
Voluntary total employee turnover of 27.5 percent, representing a slight improvement over Q2 2006 and flat over Q3 2005. Billable headcount of approximately 15,300, a slight increase from Q2 2006 and flat year-over-year. (Our take: BE is like a sieve, employees leave in droves (1 of out every 4) and the company just goes out and hires a bunch of professionals…BE must still be an attractive employers in the marketplace!)
Total workforce utilization of 77.2 percent up from 76.8 percent in Q2 2006 and up from 74.7 percent in Q3 2005 (Our take: This is driven by the higher revenue, though sub-80′s is not a good utilization level to be at in this environment)
In addition, as of September 30, 2006, cash balances were approximately $274 million (Our take: Cash still at hand, means that BE is not seriously close to shutting down, but the prospects of a private equity takeover still remains attractive)

BE (NYSE: BE) stock has moved up from $7.60 in October to $8.60 in November, a good 15% move anticipating this event. The stock barely budged on Friday after the release of the 10-K, which just shows how efficiently the market can price a stock with its own estimates and with little factual information from the company. All in all, 2006 and 2007 look like springback years for BE with positive net income expected in both years.

With all the baggage behind us, where the company and stock go from now is based on fundamental performance and BE’s ability to bring down that voluntary turnover rate, which now creates a big threat to the influx of client engagements and the ability to meet comittments.

BearingPoint, Inc, (NYSE: BE)’s 10-K is available at

http://library.corporate-ir.net/library/12/121/121861/items/222363/BE200510K.pdf

The post BearingPoint Does File 10-K, Huge Losses in 2005, but 2006 Looking Up appeared first on Big4.com.

Just a few week ago BearingPoint, Inc. (NYSE:BE)’s CEO, Mr. Harry You, had set a date by which the fully-vetted 2005 10-K would be released: Thanksgiving November 2006. On November 3, 2006, Harry You, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, said “We appreciate the continuing support of our shareholders, banks, surety providers, clients and employees in standing by us as we worked through this process. We have already turned our attention to completing our 2005 Form 10-K filing and hope to complete this by Thanksgiving to stay on course for holding our annual meeting of shareholders in early December.”

It is the day before Thanksgiving and there appears to be no evidence of this filing, either on SEC records or on the BearingPoint.com site….so another delay for shareholders and bondholders to deal with. Moreover, it is not clear whether BearingPoint will actually hold its investor day in early December and it appears that is going to get postponed as well.

The post Where is BearingPoint (NYSE: BE) 10K? appeared first on Big4.com.

Saturday, November 04, 2006

BearingPoint, Inc. (NYSE: BE) reached agreement with its bondholders to provide higher interest rates in exchange for change in terms and the chance to resolve potential default. We reported earlier that a New York state court has found BE (NYSE: BE) in bond default since it had failed to file its 2005 10-K. In this agreement, bond holders waive the filing requirement but get higher bond interest rates, drop their lawsuit and relax their covenants. BearingPoint also got some timing waivers on filing its 10K and 10Q documents.

The 2.50% Series A Convertible Subordinated Debentures due 2024 will get 3.10% instead of 3.00% and the 2.75% Series B Convertible Subordinated Debentures due 2024 will get 4.10% instead of 3.25%. Further, the indenture governing the 5.00% Convertible Senior Subordinated Debentures due 2025 gets a waiver of SEC reporting requirements through October 31, 2007 and provides for further extension through October 31, 2008 upon payment of an addition fee of 0.25%; and the holders get paid 1.00% of the outstanding principal amount in exchange for their consent.

Harry You, (NYSE: BE) CEO said, “…We have already turned our attention to completing our 2005 Form 10-K filing and hope to complete this by Thanksgiving to stay on course for holding our annual meeting of shareholders in early December.”

All in all, BearingPoint, Inc. (NYSE: BE) seems to have pulled off a decent agreement with bondholders by giving them additional money, but gaining valuable time to file its 10-K and more importantly gaining at least some consent to abstain from going into default. The battle for BE is now on two fronts, both with irate and shaky shareholders as with belligerent debt holders.

Clearly, the filing of the 2005 10-K and all its details is going to lay bare to the public what has been happening inside the company, though some of the salient features have been revealed. Thanksgiving is not that far away and if BE (NYSE: BE) does get the document out by that self-set deadline, it may have breathing room to assuage investors in early December. Any delay in filing is going to set off yet another round of investor and debtor railings on the company.

Can You do it? The answer by Turkey day!

The post Giving Thanks: BearingPoint Reaches Agreement with Bondholders appeared first on Big4.com.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Credit ratings agency Moody’s recently downgraded BearingPoint (NYSE: BE)’s ratings from B1 to B2, and put them on watch for further potential downgrade. The agency took note of
the firm’s year-to-date cash outflows, due to finance and accounting systems costs and of course the inordinate delays in filing its 10-K and last but not least the huge employee turnover seen in Q2 -2006. These ratings are considered speculative.

As we said before, BearingPoint (NYSE: BE) will be further delaying filing its financials and estimated performance far below previous projections.

Now not only investors but also creditors will be on watch, and if performance does not match expectations not only will the stock take a hit but its debt costs will continue to increase.

BearingPoint’s troubles are not over yet, and it is facing the worst situation for a public company: disappointed investors and creditors. The turnaround is taking longer than anticipated and there is a constant stream of tough news, including a recent suit from bondholders.

We ask a difficult question: Should BearingPoint continue as a public company? Can it handle all the pressures of periodic reporting, stakeholder scrutiny and continue to operate without transparent financials? Can we speculate that the private equity boom will impact BearingPoint (NYSE:BE), make a tender offer for the entire company and take it private? Away from the public eye, the firm can focus on the longer-term and fix its situation with bolder moves. Operations appear to be strong and there are contracts still flowing in, so the situation is not desperate but fixable. We will wait and see what develops, but conjecture that something like this has a good possibility to occur.

The post Should BearingPoint Remain Public? appeared first on Big4.com.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

BearingPoint (NYSE: BE) reported last night that it will now delay filing its 2005 10-K after the State Supreme Court for New York County found that BE is in default on its 2.75% series B convertible subordinated debentures due 2024

The court’s ruling would have caused a “going concern” opinion on BE which was close to file its filing its 2005 10K. Its convertibles would be then classified as current liabilities, unless the bondholders agreed to the current status. Further, a large number of clients could cancel contracts, thus directly impacting sales.

For 2005, BearingPoint (NYSE: BE) said gross revenues increased to $3.4 billion growing 1% from 2004. Net revenues grew 2%. 2005 net losses are expected to be between negative $650 and negative $720 million, largely driven by a Hawaiian Telecom contract, and costs related to closing the 2005 books, goodwill impairments, tax asset write-offs, and higher compensation.

For 2006, BE says business is good, and demand is robust. Contract bookings in Q2-2006 were $811 million, implying 2006 revenues of around $3.3 billion. Employee turnover was up 29% from 24% in the first quarter. Managing Directors are also leaving at about 10%, but some good news: utilization increased to 76.8% from 73.4% in Q1

Shares plunged on this news dropping nearly 16% at the end of the day, and opening to a slightly better level this morning.

So that is the news….but it is one more troubling incident in this difficult saga. BearingPoint had scanty reporting to start with, and shares were priced based on minimal knowledge, and the market just cannot bear uncertainty. The share price decline brings back BE to better valuation levels. Analysts continue to be neutral to skeptical, with little factual basis for valuation judgments.

BearingPoint’s 10K, as we said before, had to come out soon to make its investors meetings and meet SEC requirements, so this delay is only going to increase the murkiness surrounding the company and the stock. Employees and MD, the first row of defense in a consulting firm are departing fast, and soon we will have a major and irreplaceable loss of talent. Customer demand remains strong and that is indeed the saving grace for BearingPoint, without this support, the firm is looking at quite an unhappy situation.

The post BearingPoint Delays 10-K, BE Shares Bearing Down appeared first on Big4.com.

Saturday, September 23, 2006

Some months ago, we looked at who is blogging from inside at the Big Four firms. Our survey indicated blogs at Accenture (NYSE: ACN), Cap Gemini SA, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Deloitte & Touche LLP, and one by KPMG LLP’s Chairman. At that time, we noticed the lack of publicly-oriented blogs at BearingPoint (NYSE: BE), Ernst & Young LLP . We checked again on the same topic for any changes in status, and here is what we found. Status Quo for the most part. Some blogs have definitely added more content and authors, and the Deloitte LLP and CapGemini SA in particular have regular postings from committed bloggers.

Vicent McBurney of BearingPoint (NYSE: BE), Australia has an IT blog at An Expert’s Guide to WebSphere Information Integration at http://blogs.ittoolbox.com/bi/websphere where he “shares tips, tricks and techniques of the WebSphere Ascential suite and comments on news items and events related to the suite”. We are no IT gurus, but this looks to us like an IT expert who knows his stuff. Vincent posts regularly and gets comments from other like minded IT folks.

However, nothing on BearingPoint.com…the word “blog” on the (Google powered) site search brings up no results.

For a public company (NYSE: BE) that is late on its 10K and 10Q, misses its business update to investors and provides scanty information, it would be good to have an internal perspective coming out through a sponsored or non-sponsored blog

Vincent has 15 years as an application programmer, database programmer, ERP implementer and information management consultant. He has worked on projects in Europe and the US and is currently back in his home town working with BearingPoint Australia. Vincent continues to use the WebSphere Information Integration suite at BI, DW and data migration projects and this blog is just another stage of self-education and collaboration.

The post BearingPoint, Nothing Official, IT Expert from Down Under Blogs On appeared first on Big4.com.

Sunday, September 17, 2006
!
So when is BearingPoint, Inc.’s (NYSE: BE) 2005 10K coming?

There is talk that this will now be coming in the next two weeks, provided of course, that BearingPoint, Inc. does not get to postponing it yet again. BearingPoint, Inc. has scheduled an investors’ meeting on December 11th, 2006, so the 10K needs to come out soon, to give people enough time to get ready. The company came out in April 2006 with Q1-2006 results, and then…radio silence, as it skipped the business outlook presentation of July 2006. 10Q results for 2005 should come out in October 2006. When the 10 K comes out, BE (NYSE: BE) is expected to provide outlook on the business and financial results?

BearingPoint’s government services and financal services are doing well. Just a scan of recent news for BE is full of government and public sector wins of large IT projects. Other areas appear weak, and it seems that they are struggling and giving away price to get business.

2005 results, when they are revealed, will not be good, and investors seem to have already acknowledged this and in classic fashion are setting their sights on 2007 and 2008 outlooks from the company. Analysts are pegging around $260 million of operating income in 2007, up from the company’s guidance of $175 million in 2006.

So how is the stock hanging around $8….that is the mystery of Wall Street, which in total absence of financial reports seems to have decided on a consensus basis what the underlying business is worth. The lack of visibility, tough choices on options, poor debt rating, high employee turnover, new management team, heavy reliance on US government work are all factors that the market seems to be looking through with alacrity.

The next meaningful move in the BearingPoint, Inc. (NYSE:BE) stock will come when the 10K is out in the next few days, and we will be looking out for this too.

The post BearingPoint: 10K Had Better Come Shortly appeared first on Big4.com.

BearingPoint (NYSE: BE) was recently upgraded by Standard and Poors from 2 stars (sell) to 3 stars (hold), the analyst cited that price declines had led to the stock below $8, and the valuation was compelling. The analyst thinks that the company will earn an EPS of 40 cents due to recent successes in securing contracts. The year-out price target is $8.50 for a P/E of 21.

Let’s step back here. BE earned an EPS of 18 cents in 2005, and 2 cents in Q1-2006, the Street thinks that BE will hit an EPS of 34 cents in 2006, and the mean analyst pegs the target price at $9.84.

On April 25th, BE itself lowered its 2006 outlook due to higher-than-expected compliance expenses to $150 million to $200 million in operating income, down from a previous forecast of $180 million to $250 million. The company backed previous guidance for $3.5 billion to $3.7 billion in revenue for 2006. Street was expecting $3.69 billion revenue.

The company said its revised forecast includes $80 million to $120 million in costs related to its audit, the filing of its 2005 annual report, increased compliance staff and infrastructure costs, and up to $25 million in non-cash lease facilities restructuring charges.

There is still a lot of risk in this company: still paying the bills for ongoing audit, no 2005 10-K filing as yet, 24% employee attrition levels, low consultant utilization rate% and a new management team

BE earned 18 cents in 2005, so a 34 cent 2006 result would be nearly 100% improvement in performance. We saw Accenture recently with a blow-out quarter so the fundamental demand for consulting and outsourcing is strong, but will that rising tide carry BearingPoint as well?

We invite comment from our readers on the real state of affairs at BE and whether the stock price, performance and underlying business dynamics are all in line.

The post BearingPoint Stock Upgraded, But Long Way To Go Yet appeared first on Big4.com.

The US Open is on, with the last round being played out today, the final 18 holes to decide the 2006 Champion.

Phil Mickelson strongly surged into a share of the first position with solid play of 69 in the third round and 70-73 in the first two rounds. With a total of 212 he is square with Kenneth Ferrie for number 1 and plus 2 over par for the first three rounds.

Geoff Ogilvy, the Australian, is just one stroke behind at plus 3 over par for the first three rounds. His score 70-71-72 puts him undisputed 2nd.

Vijay Singh, Colin Montgomerie, Ian Poulter and Steve Stricker are all at plus 5 in third place.

Winged Foot is turning out to be more challenging and fickle than people had imagined. So it is going to be a close call in the end

What does all this have to do with the Big Four.

As our readers know, BearingPoint (NYSE: BE) is a big supporter of Phil Mickelson, and their logo is prominently displayed on his cap. He did well by winning the 2006 Masters in addition to the 2004 Masters, and could make history as a three-major winner if he captures this 2006 US Open title.

On the other hand, Geoff Ogilvy, won the 2006 Accenture (NYSE: ACN) Match Play Championship, and the young Australian could also make history if he wins. Tiger Woods, who is sponsored by Accenture (NYSE: ACN) (Go On – Be a Tiger), did not make the cut in this US Open, the first time in his professional career, by posting a plus 12 in the first two rounds when the cut was plus 9.

So while the players get ready today to play out a thrilling round of golf, there is background action in the Big Four firms to see who will take home the bragging rights.

The PR guys are getting ready with their full page ads in the WSJ, NYT and USA Today…a BearingPoint (NYSE: BE) splash or otherwise. We will keep a watch and let you know the outcome.

The post BearingPoint Versus Accenture at Winged Foot appeared first on Big4.com.

Thursday, June 08, 2006

We set out to see who is blogging at the Big Four….simply by typing in the word blog in the search at each site. And this is what we found:

At Accenture (NYSE:ACN), it looks like two technologists are blogging with Accenture’s blessing. The Accenture blog focuses on emerging technologies and how technology innovation is likely to impact business in the future. Ed Gottsman (BlogGottsman), from Accenture (NYSE:ACN)Technology Labs, tends to focus on unanticipated (and sometimes alarming) uses and applications of new technologies. Martin Illsley (BlogIllsley) is the director of research at Accenture (NYSE:ACN) Technology Labs in Sophia Antipolis. In his blogs, he captures new technologies in action and comments on them. This to us appears to be just a very small representation from the 129,000 employees at Accenture who have expertise on just a huge variety of subjects. Perhaps ACN is just dipping its toes into the water to see how it goes.

In the same vein, CapGemini recently unveiled its CTO blog with some key technologists –Global CTO Andy Mulholland, Ron Tolido, CTO for Northern Europe and Asia, and Juhana Juppo, CTO Finland — blogging on relationship between business and IT, the impact of service-oriented methodologies, business intelligence, RFID … whatever they feel like basically. Again a technology oriented authorship, but a much higher level. Much like Accenture, CapGemini appears to be testing the waters, but seems to put the right amount of publicity and coverage for this blog.

KPMG takes a different tack however. Its Chairman Mike Rake had a very interesting, entertaining and personal blog about his experiences at Davos 2006. However, this was open only for 3 days and then mysteriously stopped. Mike Rake writes, ” Tomorrow we’ll start dealing with the world’s problems – or at least that’s the plan. The theme of this year’s World Economic Forum is ‘The Creative Imperative’. I’m not entirely sure what it is but I hope to find out over the next few days – and how it will benefit mankind. I go to Davos every year in order to gauge the mood of the key players whose decisions shape the lives of every person on the planet. Hopefully I’ll find time to network, to make new friends and to renew some old Davos acquaintances. That includes meeting some of the many journalists here, invariably in a bar somewhere….with such a hectic schedule in store it remains to be seen whether I’ll get the chance to test the ski slopes!.” It is evident that he writes from his heart with humor and incisiveness.

And then Deloitte has a very different way to address blogging. Deloitte’s Women’s Initiative (WIN) connects through the WIN blog, posted weekly on the intranet site. The blog is hosted by Cathy Benko, National Managing Director of WIN and leader of the high technology industry sector for Deloitte Consulting LLP. It also features guest bloggers. Topics include work/life balance, gender bias, the power of networking, creating a personal brand, breast cancer and more. This blog gets very personal, very warm hearted and addresses tough issues in a pragmatic way. Only selected posts are available to the public, one has to be an insider to see all the material. But what we see draws us into the challenges and opportunities faced by career Deloitte women.

BearingPoint, Ernst & Young and Pricewaterhouse came up dry. No blog, no luck on searches. If there are blogs here, they are quite well hidden and not available to the public.

Despite the size of the Big Four firms, there is little known about how they operate, how they recruit, select and pay. The partnership holds much close to the chests, and blogs are one way of
letting show the human and global face of the firms.

In being the only blog (that we know of) which focuses exclusively on this space, we will try to discuss, debate, highlight and push all the key news and issues which the Big Four firms deal with. We would love to see blogging company, and welcome a partnership with all the blogs noted above.

The post Whos Blogging at the Big Four. Lets Connect appeared first on Big4.com.

BearingPoint Turnover Huge: Finding Experienced Candidates is Critical

BearingPoint (NYSE: BE) recently provided their 2006 Q1 results and 2006 full year outlook (please keep in mind that the 2005 10-K is only due out July 31, 2006). Q1 results of increase in 15% in booking year upon year were driven mainly by strong performance in public services (no updates on other segments).

But employee turnover……that’s a different issue, let’s do some math here:

Q1-2005 headcount: 14,685
Lost @ 24% turnover rate: (3,568)
Hired (plug figure): 4,103
Q1-2006 headcount up 3.6% y-o-y: 15,400

So BE is creating 17 alumni every single business day (00 in the year): Great for Big4.com

But it is also hiring 21 candidates every single business day. Imagine the work of screening, interviewing, hiring and presenting them to clients. Has to be tough to deal with this huge turnover. Big four alumni are ideal BearingPoint hires – they are trained, understand the Big Four landscape and are ready-to-go at clients. Advice to BE: Advertise on Big4.com to find quality Big Four candidates!

Outlook for the year for NYSE:BE stock: reduced to $150-200 million from earlier of $180-250 million. That’s not good, but here is the interesting part: BE stock actually jumped from $8.50 to $9.50 upon the announcement on April 25th, 2006. Perhaps investors were quite simply relieved by the reduction of uncertainity on the outlook, remember there is not a whole lot of good history or projections that investors can base their forward financials. However, the stock has given up all that gain, back trading at around $8.50 now

This is from BearingPoint (NYSE: BE) website

BearingPoint Provides Business and Guidance Updates

MCLEAN, Va., April 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — BearingPoint Inc. (NYSE: BE), a leading global management and technology consulting company, today provided a business update and revised its financial guidance for 2006.

Business Update

The company reported its first quarter 2006 business metrics today, highlighted by strong bookings in BearingPoint’s Public Services segment, which was awarded a number of important contracts including implementation of payroll and personnel systems for the State of California and application services development for San Diego County. BearingPoint’s first quarter performance metrics include:

Bookings were approximately $800 million in the first quarter of the year, an approximate 15% increase from the year ago quarter;

Voluntary total employee turnover was 24.0%, a 90 basis points improvement from the year ago quarter;

Total workforce utilization was 67.7%, down from 70.2% in the first quarter 2005;

Total chargeable hours billed by consultants to client engagements were approximately 5.3 million hours, a year-over-year increase of nearly 4% from the first quarter of 2005; and
Billable headcount for the first quarter of 2006 stood at 15,400, a 3.6% increase from the first quarter of 2005 and in line with billable headcount for the fourth quarter of 2005.

“In a robust global business environment, our business units operated well in the first quarter. More importantly, we are continuing to demonstrate our ability to deliver complex and mission critical solutions to clients all across our industry segments,” said Harry You, chief executive officer of BearingPoint.

Guidance Update

Relative to its expectations for the year ending December 31, 2006, the company today affirmed its previous guidance for revenue expectations of between $3.5 and $3.7 billion, and net revenue of between $2.7 and $2.85 billion.

The company now expects GAAP operating income for the same period to be in the range of $150 to $200 million, compared with the previously forecasted range of $180 to $250 million. The company has adjusted its expectations regarding GAAP operating income to account for, among other things, between $80 to $120 million of higher-than-expected costs associated with accelerating and expanding various finance, compliance and infrastructure initiatives, including:
Additional costs for the company’s efforts to complete its 2005 financial statements and file its

Form 10-K with the SEC;
Incremental costs to increase staff and resources relating to the expansion of corporate compliance infrastructure, and the completion of the investigation by the BearingPoint audit committee; and

Other corporate infrastructure costs, including up to $25 million of additional, non-cash lease and facilities restructuring charges.

Cash balances at the end of fiscal year 2006 are now estimated to be between $450 to $600 million, as compared with the previous forecast of $550 to $650 million. The forecast has been adjusted to reflect the use of cash in connection with the additional costs described, as well as payments in connection with the pending settlements of various civil actions and costs of our employee ownership program.

You concluded, “As we have stated, we remain focused on resolving our infrastructure and process issues with the goal of becoming current in our SEC filings by later this year. The actions we are taking now will enable us to move forward faster with a streamlined infrastructure and stronger systems to support our business strategy. We are pleased to see the strong performance in our core business affirming this strategy and our dedication to service with our clients.”

The post BearingPoint Turnover Huge: Finding Experienced Candidates is Critical appeared first on Big4.com.

Sunday, April 09, 2006
BearingPoint Aces the Masters – Phil Mickelson Wins!

BearingPoint (NYSE: BE) must be feeling good today.

Their man, Phil Mickelson, donning the black BearingPoint hat and logo, strode confidently to the 18th green at the 70th Masters golf tournament at Augusta, Georgia and won it by a strong margin (2 strokes). Phil, the lefty golfer, has had a long streak of no wins, scoring 0 out of 42 majors, but has had great success recently, winning 3 of his last 9 majors. He won the 2004 Masters in Augusta, and becomes one of the only few golfers who won a tournament in the last week before the Masters and then following up with a Masters victory.

Phil is a favorite with the crowds and press, and his popularity is only going to shoot up as he dons his well deserved Masters green jacket. Kudos to BearingPoint (NYSE: BE) to have supported the right guy who has come through well. Golf is a fickle game and a champion is really hard to pick from a crowd of top contenders. Compare this with Accenture (NYSE: ACN)which is backing Tiger Woods, who is having a decent year as well (though he did not take the Accenture Match Play or the Masters).

Perhaps there is an analogy we can draw for BearingPoint…after suffering through SEC investigations, late 10-K filings, senior management churn, stock price hits and heavy consultant turnover, Phil’s victory at a prestigious tournament watched by millions (who probably did note BE’s distinctive logo) may well be a turning point in their long road. Perhaps Phil’s upcoming championship dinner with the green jacket (and the BE cap) marks the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel for BearingPoint….looking closer and brighter than ever.

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