Winter always outstays its welcome. This year’s, with its long cold spells and record
snowfalls in many parts of the country, has
seemed much longer than necessary —
but at least we know that it can’t last much
more than another month.
The accounting profession, on the
other hand, entered a cold snap in 2009
that has lasted right through 2010, and
still seems to have the Top 100 Firms in
a deep freeze, stuck in a second year of
declining revenue, partner and staff
figures.
Some of the more chilling statistics: Revenues for the Top 100 were
down almost 2 percent, while partner
and staff levels both declined around 1
percent. Forty-four firms reported flat
or declining revenue, against 34 last
year, and 62 reported flat or declining
staff numbers, against 53 last year.
While things didn’t get better, it’s
not quite fair to say that they got worse:
A 2 percent drop in revenue is pretty
cold, but in 2009 revenues dropped almost 3 percent, and 2009’s drop in staff
was over 2 percent. (See Databank,
page 5.) Not warmer then, but not necessarily colder.
Frozen.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
ices and offerings for an economy in trou-
ble — restructuring and bankruptcy serv-
ices, for instance. In 2010, many of the Top
100 reported launching entirely new prac-
tice areas that will still be called for when
the economy fully recovers, from IT con-
sulting and benchmarking services to ad-
growing now. Even in the midst of the
freeze, over 60 percent of the Top 100 re-
ported seeing growth in areas such as busi-
ness valuations, services to nonprofits,
forensics and fraud work, estate planning,
international tax, and attest services — a
mix of those driven by the tough economy
and those that point to a post-thaw fu-
ture. (See Niche Services and Client Cat-
egories, pages 12-13.)
The deep freeze Revenue growth of the Top 100 Firms, in percent*
' 10 '09 '08 '07 '06 '05 '04 '03 '02 '01 '00 '99 '98 '97 '96 '95 '94
- 5
*Compiled from individual firm results
reported at year’s end; includes some estimates
STAYING WARM
For those keeping score at home, last year
in this study we reported seeing signs that
things would be warmer in 2010. All we
can say is that we’re eternally optimistic
about the profession — and one of the reasons we’re still optimistic is that the best of
the Top 100 aren’t hibernating through the
cold weather.
In the depths of winter, they’re active-
ly developing strategies for staying warm.
In 2009, that often meant focusing on serv-
visory services for clients looking to ex-
pand in China. (See Strategies, page 10.)
They’re also focusing inward to prepare
themselves for the better times ahead, de-
veloping training programs, beefing up
their marketing, and updating their tech-
nology. Almost a fifth reported that they
were finally getting around to installing a
customer relationship management sys-
tem. (See T100 Tech, page 11.)
BUNDLING UP
All that activity is helping keep the Top
100 Firms warm, but the most common strategy was, as it has been for
some time, to find someone else to
share the warmth.
Most of the T100 who saw any
kind of significant growth did it
through mergers and acquisitions. California-based Gallina, for instance,
Merger activity was strong at all levels.
Two New York-area firms in the 2009 Top
30, Eisner and Amper, Politziner & Mattia,
merged to create EisnerAmper, No. 13 in
the 2011 Top 100 and the No. 1 firm in our
Mid-Atlantic Region. National firm Clifton
Gunderson went on a tear, acquiring at
