Changing Skills, Changing Job Titles

Accountants are becoming more integral to their employers’ decision-making processes than ever. Rather than being simple bean counters, keeping track of companies’ businesses without really having an impact on the direction of those businesses – even if they work in-house – accountants are enjoying a greater voice in strategic business decisions. Rather than just collecting data and presenting it to management, accountants are being called on to analyze the numbers and the business environment and then to tell management about how companies are truly performing, how they can be expected to perform moving forward, and what steps management might take to improve future performance. This new emphasis on strategic input in accounting means that it will be more important than ever for accountants to have a deep working knowledge of technology, leadership ability, an understanding of the broad business environment, and the ability to communicate with colleagues in a diversity of corporate departments and functions.

At the same time, new accounting specialties are emerging in response to a changing business world. The prevalence of the Internet means there’s now a need for finance types with system-security and Internet strategy expertise.

Globalization, and the cross-border transactions and international trade agreements mean that the need for professionals with a specialization in international accounting is growing. Environmental regulations and the threat of related legal problems demand more environmental accountants. And increased regulatory scrutiny of the accounting industry and the business community as a whole, as well as the accounting industry’s desire to rehabilitate its reputation by doing unassailable work, means that the field of forensic accounting – which involves seeking out corporate financial malfeasance and potential breaches in financial system security – is on the rise.

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu

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Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (well known by its brand name Deloitte) is the second largest professional services firm in the world after PricewaterhouseCoopers and one of the Big Four auditors, a group of the largest international public accountancy firms. At $18.21 billion USD, it earned the most revenue out of the Big Four in 2005. 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 Fortune 500 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. 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. The name "Deloitte" is the firm name in longest continuous usage in the accounting profession. The company’s global headquarters are located in Manhattan, New York City.

According to the firm's website, as of 2005, Deloitte had a total of 121,283 professionals at work in nearly 150 countries, delivering audit, tax, consulting and financial advisoryservices to more than one-half of the world's largest companies.

Deloitte & Touche USA LLP, Deloitte's U.S. firm, provides professional services through nearly 30,000 people in the U.S. Services are provided by its subsidiaries, including Deloitte & Touche LLP, Deloitte Consulting LLP, Deloitte Tax LLP, and Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP.

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 also claims to have the highest percentage of women directors, partners, and principals among the Big Four accounting firms

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
Type	Private
Founded	London, United Kingdom (1895)
Location
Key people	William G. Parrett, CEO Piet Hoogendoorn, Chairman
Industry
Products	● ● ● ● Enterprise risk services ● Financial advisory
Revenue	$18.2 billion USD (2005)
Employees	(2005)
Website	www.deloitte.com