conduct business with over a hundred outsourcing companies around the world to aid them in their business. Deloitte has been ranked for four straight

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1 Brandon Eddlestone Deloitte Question 1 for Chapter 1: Deloitte is one of the Big Four accounting firms, along with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, and KPMG, which provide services such as audit, financial advisory, risk management, consulting, and tax services to clients around the world. They currently serve more than 150 countries around the globe, with revenue of $35.2 billion in With so many different clients and services, it is essential for a company of this magnitude to have a solid foundation of systems in place to handle all of the different data that comes in on a daily basis. It is important to understand that Deloitte handles a wide variety of clients. A few different kinds of financial systems that they use include ABS Suite, Cascade Suite, LEAD, Solvas Accounting, Surveillance Suite, and Solvas Portfolio. ABS Suite is used for powerful and comprehensive structured finance. It supports many different platforms including bond programs, master trusts, and delinked platforms. Cascade Suite offers an efficient alternative investment infrastructure. It forecasts different scenarios to study the impact of different investment outcomes. In other words, Cascade Suite takes in different inputs and generates a variety of outputs that are applicable to the client s situation. Along with developing a forecast, it also generates any necessary accounting entries to make sure that the books are up to date. LEAD is a solution to assist with the consistent application and tracking of conclusions reached for accounting rules. Solvas Accounting is used to generate financial reports for investment managers and fund administrators. Some benefits of this system are the unlimited reporting configurations, the availability of use of different currencies to support the work in different countries, and also allows for many different accounting methods to be used. Surveillance Suite provides a flexible solution to keep track of various different institutions. One can monitor anywhere from pension funds to insurance companies with the use of this system. Solvas Portfolio provides a middle ground for one to have access to many different services such as agent banks, fund administrators, and trustees. Solvas Portfolio serves as the ultimate tool for the other Solvas systems that Deloitte uses such as Level Yield, LDC, and Performance.

2 The image on the previous page displays the reasoning behind all of the systems that Deloitte uses. Deloitte uses hundreds of different systems to standardize business procedures, enhance business continuity across the merger, and minimize change impacts on employees and day-to-day operations. Deloitte uses an enterprise resource planning (ERP), which in short means that they uses integrated systems to practically run the business. The systems that I mentioned before and the countless others that they use are all integrated and run together to make a fluent system of operations. Additionally, the use of these systems minimizes costs and prevents duplication of efforts or resources. According to the 2015 IPA Report for largest accounting firms, Deloitte ranks number one. Following Deloitte is PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young LLP, KPMG LLP, and McGladrey LLP at ranks 2-5 respectively. It is safe to say that the Big Four (Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, and KPMG) have the best practices in the industry. They audit 99% of the companies in the FTSE 100 and account for most Fortune 500 companies. In order to be the largest accounting firm, one must have a solid foundation of practices in order. Deloitte focuses entirely on the customer and adapts to their needs. They have a variety of different systems in place to reach the maximum potential of customer satisfaction. Whether it is having a complete customer portfolio or designing different scenarios for whatever tomorrow holds, Deloitte has a system in place to make sure that the customer receives the information they need. According to smallbusiness.com, four of the best practices for an accounting firm are to keep the general ledger current, generate financial statements, perform a self-audit, and hire an external auditor. Deloitte does all of these to a maximum degree, generating them the most revenue out of all accounting firms in Question 2 for Chapter 2: Deloitte doesn t use much off-the-shelf software, but one type of software that is prevalent throughout Deloitte is IUS (Internal Use Software). This software is used to run the day to day operations of Deloitte and to produce goods and provide services to clients. Although IUS provides benefits to Deloitte, it only has a useful life of five years. IUS must be updated every five years to meet the rapid evolvement of technology and hardware. Some criteria for selecting software would be to make sure that it has a long life and protects the assets. Deloitte wants software that requires less updating in order to minimize cost, while at the same time maximizing revenue. Deloitte uses an integrated ERP software called SAP. Deloitte uses SAP because, in their eyes, is the best software to integrate information and provide the best service to customers and be able to access different kinds of information from one place. Some benefits outlined from SAP include advisory strategy, cloud services, supply chain packages, and product lifecycle management. Deloitte has chosen SAP as their ERP software, because it has boosted business value and maximized revenue. One of the keys to Deloitte s success, and something they take pride in, is their Outsourcing Advisory. They outsource vital aspects of their company such as certain finances, tax, information technology, and change management. They

3 conduct business with over a hundred outsourcing companies around the world to aid them in their business. Deloitte has been ranked for four straight years on the list of The World s Best Outsourcing Advisors by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals. Deloitte effectively demonstrates why outsourcing is so important by utilizing the strategy, negotiation, transition, and vendor management to achieve maximum efficiency with their outsourcing. The companies that have the best practices in the industry, in regards to use of software and outsourcing, are the Big Four firms. For companies of this stature, efficient software usage and outsourcing is a must. Outsourcing can have many positive influences on a company, such as reducing costs, reducing time, reducing efforts, and minimizing the use of manpower so they can work on other tasks. If a company did not outsource, they would either have to hire more workers or cut back on projects, which both do not aid in maximizing revenue. One could help a company achieve the best practices by learning the ins and outs of the usage of software and buying into a company s system. A company s system is useless unless the employees of that company work diligently and understand why they are working the way they are. Some great examples of this are within Deloitte and the rest of the Big Four accounting firms. They are in the position that they are in today because of the consistent ethics that are instilled in the company.

4 Works Cited "Best Practices for Accounting Office Procedures." Small Business. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Feb < "CFO Insights." (2012): n. pag. Web. Deloitte. N.p., n.d. Web. "Financial Technology Deloitte US Software & Services." Deloitte United States. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Feb < IPA SPECIAL REPORT THE 2015 IPA 100 FIRMS (n.d.): n. pag. Web. N.p., n.d. Web. "Outsourcing Advisory Services Deloitte US Business Model Transformation." Deloitte United States. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Feb < "Technology Offerings Deloitte US Consulting." Deloitte United States. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Feb <

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