09-19-2004, 11:18 PM
Well I the Big 4 are the top 4 in almost all of assurance services, yes they may not be the top companies when it comes to management or project consultancy or actuarial services so to say. (Incidently all of the Big 4 but Deloitte. have divorced their consultancy wings.. or vice versa)
Non Big 4 firms do audit banks, Insurance companies and other financial services. Take the example of Pakistan where some of the non Big 4 firms do audit the fiancial services sector. As for Grant Thorton, they have a seperate financial services assurance division in most of their bigger US offices and do cater to banks. I cannot say about the UK.. but since Grant Thorton is at the no.5 position (accountancy magazine, UK) in UK, it would be hard to believe that they have stayed away form a lucrative sector as Financial services.
Moreover, post Enron and post SOX (Sarbens oxley), whereby alot of assurance related services cannot be extend to one's audit client, things are changing and the non Big 4 firms are stepping in to cover the GAP. I had a particular client an SEC (US) company who were doing business with all of the four Big4 simply because of SOX and their own stringent corporate code. PwC=Auditors, EY=Internal audit; KPMG=Tax and Deloitte=Accounting assurance services. !
"Allah does not change the state of people unless they change what is within themselves" Quran 1311
Non Big 4 firms do audit banks, Insurance companies and other financial services. Take the example of Pakistan where some of the non Big 4 firms do audit the fiancial services sector. As for Grant Thorton, they have a seperate financial services assurance division in most of their bigger US offices and do cater to banks. I cannot say about the UK.. but since Grant Thorton is at the no.5 position (accountancy magazine, UK) in UK, it would be hard to believe that they have stayed away form a lucrative sector as Financial services.
Moreover, post Enron and post SOX (Sarbens oxley), whereby alot of assurance related services cannot be extend to one's audit client, things are changing and the non Big 4 firms are stepping in to cover the GAP. I had a particular client an SEC (US) company who were doing business with all of the four Big4 simply because of SOX and their own stringent corporate code. PwC=Auditors, EY=Internal audit; KPMG=Tax and Deloitte=Accounting assurance services. !
"Allah does not change the state of people unless they change what is within themselves" Quran 1311
