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Wall Street Oasis » Forums » Consulting Cabaret

PwC Advisory reputation? Forum's RSS Feed Share

RaRe's picture
RaRe
     IB
 
(Chimp, 14
 
Points)
 on 3/15/08 at 9:08am

What's their reputation in terms of consulting work they do? Also, how do they stack up in terms of "brand" against MBB? Is one Big 4 better than the rest with regards to their advisory/consulting arm?

Any other information about possibly working in Advisory would be appreciated, too.

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  • Consulting Cabaret
masterg's picture

I'd really like to know as

masterg
    
 
(Baboon, 173
 
Points)
  on 3/15/08 at 10:47am

I'd really like to know as well. My girlfriend just got an offer from their San Francisco office. Sounds like a great offer.

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stevenbn's picture

Big 4 reputations vary more

stevenbn
     IB
 
(Orangutan, 305
 
Points)
  on 3/15/08 at 5:52pm

Big 4 reputations vary more on a office by office basis then firm by firm, i.e. PwC may be #1 in San Francisco and KPMG might be #1 in NYC and EY #1 in LA.

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ideating's picture

In terms of "brand" they do

ideating
     O
 
(King Kong, 1,600
 
Points)
  on 3/15/08 at 7:05pm

In terms of "brand" they do not stack up at all with MBB.

I don't know much about them to be honest- I don't think very much strategy work trickles down to them.

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oasising's picture

I am pretty sure that in the

oasising
     IB
 
(Senior Orangutan, 400
 
Points)
  on 3/16/08 at 9:38pm

I am pretty sure that in the US, Big 4 firms are not allowed to take on strategy work because it conflicts with their role as auditors (Sarbanes-Oaxley).

Foreign Big 4 arms do have strategy consulting practices as well as more sizable M&A practices.

Big 4 Advisory in the US mostly consists of Transaction Services (Due Diligence for M&A), Valuation, Middle Market Corporate Finance Advisory, Risk Management, Transfer Pricing, basically a bunch of random services that they can perform without tripping up on SOX.

In terms of brand, they are the most prestigious out of any accounting job and are somewhat difficult to get. However, they are not in the same league as any respectable investment bank or management consulting firm.

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skaballet's picture

Big 4 can do strategy work

skaballet
    
 
(Monkey, 43
 
Points)
  on 3/16/08 at 9:52pm

Big 4 can do strategy work in the US. However, they do far less of it than MBB.

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redarmy3's picture

anyone have any more info on

redarmy3
     CO
 
(Chimp, 1
 
Points)
  on 3/31/08 at 1:44am

anyone have any more info on this?

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snyyj's picture

I interviewed with both PwC

snyyj
     CO
 
(Senior Chimp, 29
 
Points)
  on 4/17/08 at 12:50am

I interviewed with both PwC Advisory and Deloitte Consulting. What turned me off about both companies is that the analysts seemed more interested in partying than doing real work. Normally this would not be that big of a problem but I knew if I noticed this then other people must notice it as well (ex: recruiters for other firms or mba school). Thus, the reputations for both pale in comparison to MBB and several other consulting firms (Monitor, Oliver Wyman Group etc)

As for work, the analysts told me that they compete with MBB for the exact same projects. I personally took this with a grain of salt.

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stevenbn's picture

Deloitte might compete with

stevenbn
     IB
 
(Orangutan, 305
 
Points)
  on 4/17/08 at 9:43am

Deloitte might compete with MBB for some projects just because for a project MBB would bid $1-2MM for Deloitte would do it for 200k

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ideating's picture

Nice bs stevenbn

ideating
     O
 
(King Kong, 1,600
 
Points)
  on 4/17/08 at 4:45pm
stevenbn:

Deloitte might compete with MBB for some projects just because for a project MBB would bid $1-2MM for Deloitte would do it for 200k

HAHAHA. 200k vs. 1-2MM? Are you serious? Nice bullshit. The cost structure is essentially the same until the senior principal/junior partner level.

The reason that it rarely comes down to price unless they are very similar firms, is that if you are doing strategy work for a $1B+ product, you aren't going to sweat the 1-200k difference on a ~1-2MM project.

There are enough strategy players out there that you cannot hope to sustain a business solely through one-off discount pieces.

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stevenbn's picture

I was referring to an actual

stevenbn
     IB
 
(Orangutan, 305
 
Points)
  on 4/17/08 at 7:07pm

I was referring to an actual example. When I was was working for a professor as a research assistant he had me write a case on an alumni of my school who is the CEO of a large staffing firm. His company was making a large somewhat hostile acquisition of another staffing firm. The CEO told me he hired GS because he needed the brand name so the company would take his bid more seriously then it had taken some of his previous bids, but when it came to hiring a consulting firm for the post merger integration the MBB firms came in anywhere between $1-2MM for the project and Deloitte was willing to do it for a 200-400k. Since he didn't need the brand name at that point, he went with Deloitte.

Obviously for the price difference he would have gotten a few more tps reports from the MBB firms, but a lot of the price difference is that you are just paying for the name

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ideating's picture

Well someone is lying. No

ideating
     O
 
(King Kong, 1,600
 
Points)
  on 4/18/08 at 11:34am

Well someone is lying. No way Deloitte is doing a PMI on 90% investment.

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pacmandefense's picture

what are the qualifications

pacmandefense
     O
 
(Senior Monkey, 88
 
Points)
  on 5/5/08 at 12:53pm

what are the qualifications necessary to get an internship in TAS? working towards an MS in accounting?

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bmwhype's picture

a

bmwhype
     CF
 
(Orangutan, 343
 
Points)
  on 6/5/08 at 10:36am

whats PMI

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meyouzick's picture

pacmadndefense

meyouzick
     IB
 
(Monkey, 47
 
Points)
  on 6/5/08 at 11:50am

You don't need an MS in accounting, you need that for audit. Finance background should work for TAS.

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PwC-Advisory-Diamond's picture

This thread came up pretty

PwC-Advisory-Diamond
     CO
 
(Chimp, 0
 
Points)
  on 11/3/10 at 8:42pm

This thread came up pretty high on Google, so I felt compelled to update with some facts.

PwC Advisory has a tremendous amount of focus within PwC, with the explicit intention of beating MBB at their own game. The business is growing in double-digits with great culture and people-first values.

Yes-- strict independence rules mean that they generally can do advisory work for a client ONLY when PwC is NOT the auditor. Other than that, any client is fair game.

As of 3/11/10, PwC has bought Diamond Consultants (originally traded under DTPI), a 600-strong "front office" C-suite management consulting firm that most certainly plays in the same space as MBB for strategy and operations work. Diamond is expected to be a platform to develop a high-end strategy business within PwC Advisory. I am a Manager (4yrs tenure post MBA) for the Diamond unit within PwC Advisory.

As before, PwC Advisory continues to do excellent focused execution-type work like that of Deloitte or Accenture. This means PwC Advisory can craft the C-suite strategy and take that all the way down to execution in a way that MBB can only dream of.

And from a cost perspective -- yes, absolutely MBB (and PwC-Diamond) could come in $1-2M for a PMI strategy/execution gig that Deloitte might quote at $200-400K. The client value proposition and individual team-member pay-scales are completely different. It's not a function of TPI reports -- it's a function of the quality and experience of the team, and the firm that supports them.

In summary-- from a brand perspective, watch this space.

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petergibbons's picture

PMI = Post Merger

petergibbons
     CO
 
 
(Gorilla, 634
 
Points)
  on 11/3/10 at 10:04pm

PMI = Post Merger Integration
LOL = Diamond/PwC competing with MBB

Although I would let PwC do my taxes...

Life, liberty and the pursuit of Starwood Points

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MABird's picture

There is nothing wrong with

MABird
    
 
(Senior Chimp, 29
 
Points)
  on 2/17/11 at 9:09pm

There is nothing wrong with this PwC manager promoting their business... but I like this LOL=D...

petergibbons:

PMI = Post Merger Integration
LOL = Diamond/PwC competing with MBB

Although I would let PwC do my taxes...

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Status_Quo's picture

petergibbons wrote: PMI =

Status_Quo
    
 
(Senior Gorilla, 980
 
Points)
  on 3/9/11 at 10:03pm
petergibbons:

PMI = Post Merger Integration
LOL = Diamond/PwC competing with MBB

Although I would let PwC do my taxes...

LOL

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