Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu

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Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
Deloitte's brand logo
Type Swiss Verein
Founded London, United Kingdom (1849)
Headquarters New York, New York
Key people William G. Parrett, CEO
Piet Hoogendoorn, Chairman
Industry Professional services
Products Audit
Tax
Consulting
Enterprise risk services
Financial advisory
Revenue $20.0 billion USD (2006)
Employees 135,000 (2006)
Website www.deloitte.com

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (branded as Deloitte) is one of the largest professional services firms in the world, and one of the Big Four auditors, along with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young and KPMG. In addition to its accounting practice, Deloitte is one of the largest business advisory firms in the world, providing strategic and operational management consulting services to many major companies.

It was previously known as Deloitte & Touche, which was formed by the merger of Touche Ross and Deloitte Haskins & Sells (outside of the UK) in 1990. The rebranding as simply Deloitte with a round green dot following the name was commissioned by John Connolly, the Senior Partner and Chief Executive of the UK firm, who challenged Enterprise IG in 2003 to develop a brand image that represented the new position of the organisation in the marketplace; encompassing the "complete firm", offering accounting and consulting services whilst rival firms had divested their consulting operations.

Confusingly, in the United Kingdom the local firm of Deloitte, Haskins & Sells merged instead with Coopers & Lybrand (which today is PricewaterhouseCoopers). For some years after the merger, the merged UK firm was called Coopers & Lybrand Deloitte and the local firm of Touche Ross kept its original name. In the mid 1990s however, both UK firms changed their names to match those of their respective international organisations.

In 1993, the international firm was renamed Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, the third name coming from the firm Tohmatsu & Co, which merged into Touche Ross in 1975. The names in the company title refer to William Welch Deloitte, George Touche, and Admiral Nobuzo Tohmatsu (等松). The name "Deloitte" is the firm name in longest continuous usage in the accounting profession. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu is a Swiss Verein, a membership organization under the Swiss Civil Code whereby each member firm is a separate and independent legal entity. Its global headquarters are located in Wilton, Connecticut.

According to the firm's website, as of 2006, Deloitte had a total of 135,000 professionals at work in nearly 140 countries, delivering audit, tax, consulting and financial advisory services to more than one-half of the world's largest companies. The US firm employs over 33,000 people (2005) and the UK firm employs over 10,000 people (2006).

Deloitte recently implemented the Women's Initiative (WIN) which is intended to make Deloitte a firm where "high-performing" women can find careers that are both satisfying and that provide expanding advancement opportunities. Deloitte USA also claims to have the highest percentage of women directors, partners, and principals among the Big Four accounting firms.

Deloitte Office Building in Downtown Chicago
Deloitte Office Building in Downtown Chicago

Contents

[edit] History

John Ballantine Niven established Touche Niven alongside Haskins & Sells in the Johnston Building at 30 Broad Street in 1900 in New York. At the time, there were fewer than 500 CPAs practicing in the United States, but the new era of income taxes was soon to generate enormous demand for accounting professionals.

In 1913, Niven opened the organization's first branch offices in Minneapolis and Chicago. That same year, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution allowed income tax to be levied on Americans for the first time. Compared with modern levels, the 1913 rate of 1% on taxable incomes over $3,000, rising to 7% on taxable incomes over $500,000, seems low, but, as the Journal of Accountancy noted that year, it was "indubitable that the income tax law is to have a more far-reaching effect upon public accountants than upon any other profession or business in the country.

The Journal was so convinced of the demands that it added a tax column—and asked Niven to be the editor. His column advised accountants on income tax requirements, preparing them for the impact of World War I, when federal spending rose from $742 million in 1916 to $18.9 billion in 1919. By then, income tax provided 58% of federal revenues, and the experts who handled income taxes found their skills in high demand.

[edit] After the Crash: Audits and regulations

There were numerous calls for independent auditing in the early decades of the century. But these calls were largely ignored by Washington and Wall Street regulators. The stock market crash of 1929 and the ensuing Depression brought the issue into the public spotlight, especially when it became obvious that proper accounting practices might have prevented some bankruptcies and consequent unemployment.

On April 1, 1933, Colonel Arthur Carter, President of the New York State Society of CPAs, testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking and Currency. Carter helped convince Congress that independent audits should be mandatory for public corporations. The 1933 Securities Act subsequently required public corporations to file independently certified registration statements and periodic reports. A year later, the Securities and Exchange Commission was created to administer the new legislation.

[edit] Postwar growth

After World War II, America stood on the brink of historic economic expansion. In this environment, in 1947, Detroit accountant George Bailey, then president of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, launched his own organization. The new entity enjoyed such a positive start that in less than a year, the partners merged with Touche Niven and A.R. Smart to form Touche, Niven, Bailey & Smart. Headed by Bailey, the organization grew rapidly, in part by creating a dedicated Management Consulting (MC) function. It also forged closer links with organizations established by the cofounder of Touche Niven, George Touche: the Canadian organization Ross, Touche and the British organization George A. Touche. In 1960, the organization was renamed- Touche, Ross, Bailey & Smart, becoming Touche Ross in 1969. John William Queenan joined Haskins & Sells in 1936. As managing partner from 1956 until his retirement in 1970, he led the organization through major developments in the profession. Haskins & Sells experienced its own major development by merging with 26 domestic organizations and establishing offices in Canada, Central and South America, Europe, and Japan.

[edit] The 1950s

In 1952, Touche Ross became the first large accounting organization to automate its bookkeeping. Later, Gordon Stubbs wrote Data Processing by Electronics and Introduction to Data Processing, the first two professional brochures of their kind. In 1964, the organization's work with statistical sampling led to the Auditape System, which brought computer technology to audits. The organization's MC group, which provided computer systems advice, felt the greatest impact from the technology revolution. The organization did work for several leading corporations and for many government agencies. At Touche Ross, the discipline matured during the 1960s and 1970s under leaders like Robert Trueblood and Michael Chetkovich.

[edit] The 1980s

In 1982, David Moxley and W. Grant Gregory succeeded Russell Palmer as leaders of Touche Ross. In 1985, Edward A. Kangas, a management consultant, was appointed managing partner of Touche Ross. In 1984, J. Michael Cook became managing partner of Deloitte Haskins Sells.

Touche Ross and Deloitte Haskins Sells merged in 1989. The newly formed Deloitte & Touche was led by J. Michael Cook and Edward A. Kangas.

[edit] The 1990s

In 1995, the partners of Deloitte & Touche voted to create Deloitte Consulting. Deloitte's stated goal continues to be to “simplify work so that it can be done more rapidly and more effectively.”

[edit] Clients

Major clients include:

[edit] Ratings from interest groups

Deloitte was named one of the "100 Best Companies to Work For" by Fortune magazine "100 Best Companies for Working Mothers" for 2004 by Working Mother magazine. "Top 50 Best Companies for Diversity"; Essence's Top 30 Best Companies for African-American Women List; Latina Style - One of The Best Companies for Latinas Trainingmag.com - # 6 on list of Top 100 companies.

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu moderates the Deloitte Fast 500, a worldwide survey of the fastest growing technology companies.

[edit] Services

Deloitte has several different services/branches:

  • Consulting
  • Enterprise Risk Services
  • Audit
  • Tax
  • Financial Advisory
  • Merger and Acquisition Services

Each of those services is further broken down into other branches. For example, Enterprise Risk Services is broken down into Security Services, Control Assurance, Internal Audit, and other service lines (that vary by country).

[edit] Notable current and former employees

[edit] Business

[edit] Politics and public service

[edit] Other

[edit] See also


 
Big Four auditors
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu | Ernst & Young | KPMG | PricewaterhouseCoopers

[edit] External links

[edit] Data

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