Vep: Braxton Associates (Formerly Deloitte Consulting) 2003

EMPLOY PROFILE VAULT EMPLOYER PROFILE:

BRAXTON ASSOCIATES

BY THE STAFF OF VAULT

© 2002 Vault Inc.

Copyright © 2002 by Vault Inc. All rights reserved. All information in this book is subject to change without notice. Vault makes no claims as to the accuracy and reliability of the information contained within and disclaims all warranties. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without the express written permission of Vault Inc. Vault, the Vault logo, and “the insider career networkTM” are trademarks of Vault Inc. For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, contact Vault Inc., 150 W22nd Street, New York, New York 10011, (212) 366–4212. Library of Congress CIP Data is available. ISBN 1–58131–250-4 Printed in the United States of America

Braxton Associates

Table of Contents INTRODUCTION

1

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Braxton Associates at a Glance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

THE SCOOP

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History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

ORGANIZATION

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Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Key Officers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Ownership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

VAULT NEWSWIRE

13

OUR SURVEY SAYS

17

GETTING HIRED

21

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 U.S. Office Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 Questions to Expect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 Questions to Ask . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 Compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29 Perks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29

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ON THE JOB

31

A Day in the Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 Job Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 Career Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34

FINAL ANALYSIS

37

RECOMMENDED READING

39

Braxton Associates

Introduction Overview Braxton Associates is the new name for Deloitte Consulting, a former arm of the Big Four professional services firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. Braxton (which becomes the official name of the firm at the end of 2002) spun off from DTT in early 2002, as auditing firms faced regulatory pressure to divest their consulting operations in the wake of the Andersen/Enron scandal. After months of debate, the firm decided to allow the consulting partners to buy the operation out. Soon thereafter, the firm announced its new name. Deloitte Consulting, Braxton Associates – whatever you call it, the firm ranks among the world’s largest consulting firms, with more than 14,000 employees in 97 offices in 34 countries offering everything from strategy work to customer relationship management. Its client list includes more than onethird of the companies in the Fortune Global 500, including heavyweights like Hewlett-Packard, Philip Morris and Cable & Wireless.

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Braxton Associates at a Glance 1633 Broadway 35th Floor New York, NY 10019-6754 212-492-4500 Fax: (212) 492-4743 www.dc.com

LOCATIONS

UPPERS • Strong alumni network • Aggressive in promoting diversity

DOWNERS • Cuts in pay and training • Can be a large, bureaucratic organization

New York City (HQ) Offices in 34 countries

THE BUZZ

WHAT EMPLOYEES AT OTHER FIRMS ARE SAYING

PRACTICE AREAS People Strategy & Operations Technology

THE STATS Employer Type: Partnership CEO: Doug McCracken Employees: 14,000 (2002) Revenues: $3.49 billion (2001)

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• • • • • • • •

“Cares about employees” “Way-old oldsters” “Good and getting better” “Unspectacular” “Classical” “Family-oriented” “Body shop” “What the Big 5 SHOULD be”

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Braxton Associates

The Scoop History Braxton’s history begins in 1845, when William Deloitte opened an accounting office in London that targeted the needs of bankrupt companies. In 1890, Deloitte made one of the most significant decisions in the firm’s history: He opened his first American branch in New York, under the leadership of John Griffiths, a firm partner. Deloitte slowly moved north and west, and by 1945 it had opened branches in Montreal, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles. Even as it expanded, however, the firm was careful to maintain a consistent corporate culture, one that stressed its credentials as an expensive but thoroughly professional firm. After World War II, Deloitte formed an alliance with Haskins & Sells, which had an extensive network of offices within the United States. In 1978, Deloitte changed its name to Deloitte Haskins & Sells, a change accompanied by a shift in corporate culture. Deloitte became more aggressive as the accounting industry grew more competitive; and the firm was one of the first major accounting companies to employ bold, direct advertising. In 1984, Deloitte was involved in an abortive merger attempt with Price Waterhouse, which failed because of the objections of Price Waterhouse’s overseas partners. However, Deloitte was not to be denied its merger for long. As a wave of alliances swept the top accounting firms, Deloitte Haskins & Sells merged with Touche Ross to form Deloitte & Touche. The merger brought about the fusion of two disparate corporate cultures: In contrast to Deloitte’s reputation as a conservative, traditional firm, Touche Ross had made a name for itself with a daring and aggressive practice. Ross’s strengths were in Asia, while Deloitte’s base of operations was in Europe and the States. After the merger, Deloitte’s Michael Cook continued to supervise U.S. operations, while Ross’s Edward A. Kangas oversaw international business. The post-merger firm also adopted a new name for its global operations: Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (included in the merger was Japanese audit firm Tohmatsu Awoki Sanwa). The firm’s U.S. and U.K. arms continue to go by Deloitte & Touche, however. Like several other auditing firms, Deloitte thrived during the 1980s and cashed in on the success of the junk bond market. Unfortunately, Deloitte had to pay for its adventures – as auditors were increasingly held responsible for the conduct of their clients, Deloitte was sued in the 1990s because of the actions of several failed S&L banks, as well as the failure of Drexel Burnham, Visit the Vault Consulting Career Channel at http://consulting.vault.com — with insider firm profiles, message boards, the Vault Consulting Job Board and more.

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Braxton Associates The Scoop

the former firm of junk bond magnate Michael Milken. These lawsuits against Deloitte were settled only after the accounting firm agreed to pay out more than $100 million to the litigating parties. In 1995, Deloitte undertook a major reorganization of its business and adopted a regionally oriented structure. The firm’s U.S. and U.K. consulting operations were also reorganized when Deloitte Consulting was formed to consolidate the firm’s operations in both countries. The next year, the firm formed a corporate fraud unit, which specializes in the Internet. Deloitte also bought PHH Fantus, the leading corporate relocation consulting company. Things weren’t all rosy during the late 1990s, though – in April 1999, roughly 1,000 D&T consultants decided to leave the company to start their own firm after being stymied by having to turn down assignments because of conflicts of interest, and that same month Deloitte reorganized its Western European operations.

Splitting off At the beginning of the new millennium, while other Big Four firms were looking to separate their audit and consulting units, DTT took a different tact. Ernst & Young, responding to regulatory concern regarding a potential conflict of interest, sold its consulting unit in 2000. KPMG spun off its consulting operations in IPOs in February 2001. And PricewaterhouseCoopers, which announced in January 2002 the spin-off of its consulting services, planned a split as early as 2000 (a sale of its consulting unit to Hewlett-Packard fell through in November 2000). But although DTT was receiving several offers for its consulting unit, the firm bucked the trend. “We get calls almost every day,” CEO Jim Copeland told the Financial Times in July 2001. Copeland rejected the idea that offering consulting and auditing services to the same companies risked a conflict of interest. “As an organization, we have not been distracted by selling out consultancies and dividing the imaginary profits,” he said. But come 2002, Copeland and DTT were forced to change their tunes. In February of that year, while the U.S. Congress was grilling Arthur Andersen on its involvement in the Enron scandal, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu reluctantly announced that it, too, would be separating its auditing and consulting units. “It’s ironic and sad that we are forced by perception to separate our firm,” Copeland said during a speech at the National Press Club a few days after the announcement. “This separation will accomplish nothing.” Andersen’s questionable dealings with Enron forced many to rethink the Big Five’s (now the Big Four’s) common practice of providing

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Braxton Associates The Scoop

both auditing and consulting services to the same client. D&T also announced that it would no longer handle both internal and external auditing for new clients, a move the other big accounting firms had announced previously. Copeland told Reuters, “Now, because of Enron and other highprofile failures, we are forced to dismantle the very model that represents today the best practice in auditing.”

A new name, a new start? For a few days in March 2002, it looked as if Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu would inherit the messy operations of Big Four Arthur Andersen. Merger negotiations began between the two at about the same time Andersen learned that it faced potential indictment on obstruction of justice in the Enron Investigation. The New York Times claimed a deal was imminent on March 11; on the same day, however, The Wall Street Journal cautioned against the early call: “The sale or merger effort could come to nothing. It is complicated by the huge liability that Andersen potentially faces for its handling of the Enron audits and the destruction of Enron documents.” At the time, with Deloitte the second largest of the Big Four – about half the size of big dog PricewaterhouseCoopers – many thought a Deloitte-Andersen marriage made sense, as the bonded couple could present a serious challenge to PricewaterhouseCoopers. But a few days later, when negotiations between Deloitte and Andersen slowed, reports began circulating that other Big Four firms had jumped into the bidding. Ultimately, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, which had been considered Andersen most likely suitor, withdrew. “We tried to step into this situation with Andersen and be helpful,” CEO Copeland told the New York Times. “Unfortunately, we were unable to find our way through to a solution.” All the while, Deloitte partners debated how best to separate their firm from DTT. After wavering between an IPO and a partnership buyout, they decided on the latter, to be completed by the end of 2002. And in an attempt to further separate itself from its former parent, Deloitte Consulting announced a name change in July 2002. The consulting concern will be known as Braxton Associates, effective fall 2002. (Braxton Associates was a firm purchased by Deloitte & Touche in 1984.)

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Braxton Associates The Scoop

Rewarding work The last few years have seen the firm revel in a number of awards and industry plaudits, including an impressive four-year sojourn on