A diverse array of management consultancies, Big Four accounting and professional-service firms, and global IT service providers deliver finance management consulting services worldwide. They can be differentiated by the scope and orientation of their finance management services. Some providers, such as McKinsey & Co. and Ernst & Young, focus on traditional finance consulting disciplines, including corporate finance, finance transactions, and risk and compliance. Other firms, such as IBM and Accenture, focus proportionately more on integrated software that encompasses consulting, technology implementation and outsourcing for the finance function. Although this may appear to set up an "either/or" situation for finance management consulting buyers, Gartner research and reference checks indicate that buyers most want a mix of finance and IT expertise in their service providers, and that "soft skills," such as relationship chemistry and knowledge transfers, are important to clients' satisfaction and their propensity to rehire or recommend providers.

One year beyond the start of the global financial crisis, most financial organizations are preparing for or are in the business recovery and return-to-growth mode. Just before the crisis, Gartner surveyed CFOs in North America, the U.K. and Australia to identify their finance budget and resource priorities for the next two years. At that time, CFOs' priorities were as follows:

• Improving finance process efficiency
• Improving financial reporting
• Improving decision support
• Improving financial risk management
• Improving corporate cost structure
• Strengthening controls and regulatory response
• Hiring, training and job design for finance professionals

During 2009, finance management consulting service buyers told Gartner that these priorities were still relevant, if not intensified, because of the public scrutiny and the impact of the global crisis on the financial health of the business. A provider's ability to and methodology for responding to these priorities were important threshold criteria for evaluating providers in this MarketScope. The nine vendors assessed in this MarketScope have the appropriate abilities and methodologies.

Software skills and application acumen are highly valued assets for finance management buyers, and providers need to understand how internal finance controls and regulations work with relevant software applications. The global marketplace is disparate, and the number of consultants with both finance and technology consulting skills is limited. Finance management consulting service providers solve this by flying skilled consultants into a country, which increases the cost of projects, while increasing the speed of training in-country consultants, or by acquiring a company with the requisite skills and geographic reach. As a result, the applications and finance domain skill sets remain varied among finance management service providers and across geographies.

In terms of service delivery priorities, the reference accounts of the nine finance management consulting service providers analyzed in this MarketScope told us that prior experience with the provider was the most important criterion for vendor selection for finance management consulting projects. Chiefly, familiarity and understanding of the client's infrastructure, systems, people and culture, as well as interpersonal knowledge of the senior managers in the organization, helped set expectations, especially in presenting the business case. Moreover, consulting competence — which we define as the combination of personal style/personal chemistry, problem diagnosis skills, responsiveness, true advisory skills, professionalism and long-term relationship orientation — was a defining attribute in provider selection and service satisfaction. Competent consultants have:

• A strong and deep finance background:
  • Clients want a service provider that's an expert in its field, that's up to date as to what's going on in the industry and that knows how to advise the client.
  • This expertise makes clients feel confident the provider fully understands the finance end-to-end life cycle — for example, order to cash. This ranges from understanding the implications of a client's finance environment to knowing how different finance solution packages work together to reduce the time required to close the books.
• Vertical-industry depth:
  • Clients cited examples of feeling confident that they had the best-known finance experts in the industry working on their projects.
• "Value for money" of contracted services:
  • Some clients cited examples of how the global delivery model helped lower the costs of the project, while other clients equated the prices they paid for projects to the value of the services they obtained. Most clients were satisfied with the value for money delivered by their service providers.
• Provider's flexibility:
  • Flexibility in dealing with changes in the scope of a project.
  • Flexibility in offering financing options, especially during this financially difficult period.

Clients rated most service providers favorably for being sensitive to the global economic situation and the financial health of the client, as demonstrated by proactively offering financial relief measures.

This MarketScope encompasses consulting services related to finance management. Furthermore, these services are delivered globally for clients with headquarters or operations in major geographic regions in the North America, Europe and the Asia/Pacific (APAC) regions. This research excludes system integration, managed services and outsourcing.

This research evaluates service providers only on their project-based finance management consulting services. It does not evaluate them on their IT implementation, managed-service or outsourcing capabilities, nor does it evaluate them on corporate finance, compliance and finance operations activities. However, a provider's capabilities in these areas may affect overall client satisfaction with the consulting services.

Finance management services target the underlying processes that make up the finance function. These include financial reporting; budgeting, planning and forecasting; and process optimization. We view finance management services as a subset of a broader set of services delivered to the finance function.

The full set of finance management services covers the entire service life cycle: assess, design, build and run. Finance management consulting services focus only on the assess and design phases, and they encompass any type of consulting directed at improving or enhancing the finance function and its performance. These consulting services may include:

• Finance transformation
• Change management
• Performance improvement
• Business process improvement
• Finance advisory
• Governance, risk and compliance
• Finance and accounting (F&A) shared services

• At least two referenceable finance management consulting service deals.
• A minimum threshold of at least $500 million in overall finance management consulting global revenue.
• A global company, with a commitment to the F&A marketplace, as expressed through finance management consulting services:
  • Ability to serve clients globally, specifically with market share and clients outside one major region (e.g., North America, Western Europe, Japan or APAC).
  • Have a physical finance management consulting practice present in more than one major region (e.g., North America, Western Europe, Japan or APAC).

Overall Market Rating: Positive

The finance management consulting services market is mature. F&A firms have been helping finance organizations in efficient finance internal controls for decades. Service providers without an F&A heritage typically enter this market through acquisitions. Experience, well-defined offerings, good methodologies and highly satisfied clients are the hallmarks of successful service providers. Generally, this market depends heavily on on-site consultants delivering services at highly influential touchpoints between consultants and their clients. Hence, Gartner's overall rating for finance management consulting services is Positive.

In Gartner's consulting and system integration Hype Cycle, finance transformation services is in the Trough of Disillusionment. This is because, with emphasis on cost reduction and the drive for automation, the CFO now faces new entrants without the F&A heritage and its inherited business, with new types of transformation offerings to replace and complement heritage products. This adds to the marketing "noise level" and increases the confusion facing the CFO.

Accenture provides advice to clients across five operating groups that span the commercial and public sectors:

• Communications & High-Tech
• Financial Services
• Health & Public Service
• Products
• Resources

Accenture's finance management services cover the four domains of corporate finance, enterprise performance management, finance operations and risk management.

Accenture has a strong worldwide finance management consulting presence. We estimate that Accenture has more than 2,000 finance management consultant full-time employees (FTEs). In addition, Accenture has a global delivery network that includes centers for enterprise applications. Gartner estimates Accenture's global finance management client base to be 1,000, including BT, Pfizer, Vale, Thomas Cook and the U.S. Navy. Accenture's finance management consulting business highlights include:

• Its capabilities to stay on top of finance customer's issues through its Accenture Finance Executive Network and CFO Roundtables and its Management Consulting Innovation Center, with client workshops.
• Consultants' deep functional implementation experience in business processes, coupled with strong industry knowledge and leverage of insights from Accenture's F&A outsourcing offerings assist clients at the enterprise strategy level

Clients are highly satisfied with Accenture's influence with internal senior-level executives. Clients also cite Accenture's sensitive response to clients during the economic crisis as a factor in rehiring Accenture, and were extremely confident about recommending Accenture's services to peers. Some clients considered Accenture's prices to be high, depending on where the contract was signed and delivered, although its global delivery capabilities were highlighted in some instances as keeping prices competitive.

Accenture is best-suited to global finance management service clients that require senior management buy-in at the beginning and end of projects and want a full suite of capabilities from strategy through execution, based on strong industry finance business process knowledge, strong global delivery capabilities, management consulting, technology services and outsourcing capabilities. Accenture is strong in business and IT transformation consulting, and its strengths in finance were built on its heritage. Accenture keeps in touch with its customers' finance issues through its Finance Executive Network and CFO Roundtables. Clients perceive Accenture's finance management vision to be above average and consider its technology implementation to be strong. Despite a global on-site consultant strength of more than 2,000 finance management FTEs, Accenture needs to improve its level of investment in head count with experienced finance management consultants in key markets such as China and to take the time to build client intimacy.

Vendor Rating: Strong Positive

Capgemini goes to market with five industry verticals that span the commercial and public sectors with finance management consulting services in the domains of finance strategy and vision, finance shared-services advisory and business process outsourcing (BPO), finance process excellence and finance performance management.

Capgemini Consulting has a significant finance management consulting service presence in Europe. This is followed by North America and APAC. Gartner estimates Capgemini consultants to have approximately 2,500 finance transformation consultants worldwide. In APAC, Capgemini makes extensive use of its RightShore delivery model, led by an onshore presence in Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong. Capgemini has enterprise application centers in India and Eastern Europe. Key finance management service clients include Siemens, Generali and Huaxin Cement. Capgemini's finance management consulting business highlights include:

• Good responsiveness in the face of the recession, and the ability to help clients focus on getting the basics right. A focus on value and short-term cash generation and immediate cost reduction were also cited. Its Accelerated Solutions Environment Centers were also cited for fostering good innovation through workshops.
• Capgemini's RightShore global delivery teams mitigate the costs of projects and leverage available skills.
• Capgemini Consulting has implemented its Global Practice Networks to connect the national finance transformation capability and support global client service and delivery.

Capgemini built its finance management consulting foundation from its acquisition of Ernest & Young in 2000. It continues to recruit and develop qualified F&A talent to ensure understanding of finance issues and processes. Because Capgemini understands the finance business and the significant changes in the finance business, its expertise and advice on IT and IT systems was cited as a strength by clients, as was the individual talent level of its consultants. However, at least one reference felt consulting was stronger in IT transformation, as compared with business transformation. Consulting competence (defined as personal style/personal chemistry, problem diagnosis skills, responsiveness, true advisory skills, professionalism, etc.) was also highly rated.

Capgemini is best-suited to buyers of finance management consulting services that are seeking global capability and local strength in delivery of finance functional excellence across process, organization design and IT transformation consulting. This is especially true in Western Europe, North America and Australia for users that need access to a global delivery model and outsourcing capabilities. In Asia, Capgemini's on-site capabilities are limited to large markets (e.g., China and Japan). Capgemini's core capability is in business and IT transformation, and, through the establishment of Capgemini Consulting and the Global Practice Network, the company looks to balance its strengths in IT and technology with its finance business expertise.

Vendor Rating: Positive

CSC goes to market through six industry verticals:

• Public sector
• Financial services
• Manufacturing
• Technology/consumer
• Chemical, energy and utilities
• Natural resources and health sciences

Finance management services clients are advised on five finance domains: finance transformation, business intelligence (BI), ERP implementation, change management and F&A outsourcing.

CSC has a global presence for finance management consulting service bench strength, which we estimate at approximately 950 finance management consultant FTEs. It has a global delivery network in India, North America and Eastern Europe for enterprise applications. CSC's clients include NASA, Smurfit Stone and Verizon Systems. Specific efforts in the finance management consulting service business include:

• Its capabilities to stay on-top of finance customers' issues through its European CFO Roundtables.
• Its response to the global economic crisis by providing a vision through its technology-enabled, shared-service implementations, using "cash-neutral implementation," International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) initiatives and working with point solutions to provide clients with a "one-stop shop."

Clients are extremely satisfied with CSC and provided exceptionally high scores for the consultant's strong and deep business process consulting background. CSC's flexibility and sensitivity to scope changes were largely responsible for these glowing sentiments, as was CSC's ability to transfer knowledge. In terms of price, CSC clients appear less likely to switch to a lower-priced provider.

CSC consulting is best-suited to buyers of finance management service consulting services seeking a provider with strong business and finance knowledge, especially in France, leveraging a global delivery model and outsourcing capabilities. CSC's global core business and strength is in technology and business transformation consulting, and it has strengths in the public sectors of North America and Australia. CSC had an active acquisition strategy of finance technology businesses and acquired KPMG's management and IT consulting business in France, which provided its foundation in the finance management consulting business. In 2009, it also acquired BearingPoint Brazil. Clients cited examples in which CSC consultants were able to focus on procure-to-pay and order-to-cash processes, and were able to provide experiences and best practices for the context.

Despite extremely strong references on the positive experiences clients have had working with CSC (derived from the soft skills of its consultants and its finance consulting resource), on the technical front, CSC needs to strengthen its implementation capabilities in finance, to make them as comparatively good as its nonfinance IT services. In addition, it needs to build up its enterprise risk management capabilities beyond its insurance vertical for claims, because risk management processes are crucial to finance controls. With the exception of shared services, CSC's brand strength as a finance management consulting expert, needs to improve in key APAC markets, such as Australia, China, Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong

Vendor Rating: Positive

As a heritage Big Four accounting firm, Deloitte has four core businesses — audit/enterprise risk, tax, consulting and financial advisory services — as well as a specialized service portfolio that delivers an integrated approach to business issues combining insight, innovation and industry/business knowledge. Deloitte's finance transformation services are included in this portfolio and address a range of business issues facing the CFO and finance organization by delivering finance strategy and vision, finance organization, finance process and finance system services.

Deloitte has a strong finance management network in North America followed by Europe, APAC and Japan, with an estimate of 6,000 FTE consultants in this space. Gartner estimates Deloitte's global finance management client base at more than 1,500, consisting of 60% of the Fortune 500. Deloitte's global FT practice operates in more than 30 countries and is supported by a widely spread offshore global delivery network. Deloitte continues to invest in and build its finance management business through strategic acquisitions.

Deloitte's finance management consulting practice encompasses all channels of Deloitte's four businesses, including:

• Providing advice to buyer roles of the finance function — CFO, controller, treasurer, financial planning and analysis, tax, finance IT and operations — to match buyer issues with Deloitte's offerings.
• Its capabilities to stay on top of finance customers' issues through its CFO Insights Series and CFO Program.
• Its response to clients' challenging needs during the global economic crisis through three targeted initiatives, including liquidity optimization, finance cost reduction, and planning and forecasting.

Clients are extremely satisfied and rate Deloitte highly for strong consulting and technology implementation competence. Clients have also given Deloitte very strong ratings for project management skills and cited Deloitte's good people relationship skills. Deloitte's consultants provided straightforward concepts with valuable outcomes and different views on issues and processes. Deloitte's strategic vision in providing a full-service finance suite for its clients (as consultants and integrators) rated highly, as did its software package expertise. Quality and value also rated highly, resulting in Deloitte clients' strong propensity to recommend the vendor to their peers.

Deloitte is best-suited to large global buyers of finance management consulting services seeking a provider with deep, well-rounded experience in F&A and risk management, coupled with equally strong technical implementation competence. Deloitte has a dedicated advisory service for businesses entering Japan and China that helps businesses with special country regulatory requirements. Its go-to-market strategy to target specific finance roles is a differentiator, enabling clients to immediately identify job-role problems.

Deloitte has a large finance management consulting team, but, as is the case with most large consultants, Deloitte has to ensure the correct level of senior versus junior consultant ratios in a project. It must also manage hindrances to the client with Deloitte's internal management decisions across countries to the project process. In addition, it must manage the level of documentation and details to the client to maintain the level of satisfaction of clients globally.

Vendor Rating: Strong Positive

Ernst & Young is one of the Big Four accounting firms. It has four main lines of business: advisory, (performance improvement and risk management services), assurance, tax and transactions (services from identification through implementation and post-transaction integration). Ernst & Young also has services aimed at helping fast-growing companies achieve strategic growth, including legislation assistance, alignment of tax strategy with business goals, new market expansion, mergers/acquisitions, other strategic transactions and initial public offerings (IPOs). It also has services that are aimed specifically at private-equity firms and others that are specific to the needs of particular countries and regions — for example, services aimed at organizations looking to expand into highly regulated countries, such as Japan and Germany. Ernst & Young's financial management services capabilities are spread across all of these service offerings.

Ernst & Young has a consultant presence in 140 countries. Gartner estimates a worldwide finance management consultant team of 4,000 FTEs. Ernst & Young's finance management consulting business emphasis includes:

• Activities in a number of country-specific and regional process and technology standard and benchmarking forums, such as the Independent Treasury Economic Model in the U.K., as well as co-chair of the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) market outreach working group in the U.S. Ernst & Young also runs the Australian Shared Services Benchmarking Association.
• Ernst & Young hosts and chairs the twice-yearly European Shared Services Leaders' Club (which is made up of 10 European major multinational member organizations with revenue of more than $1 billion). A similar event is being established as a regular fixture for client organizations in New York.
• A program of international CFO roundtable forums in London and the Middle East.
• A biannual European Outsourcing Barometer report in which business process management (BPM) providers, such as Accenture and Infosys, are invited to comment.

Clients are extremely satisfied with Ernst & Young for specific finance solutions, such as compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and IFRS. Ernst & Young has strong finance management consulting competence, which rates higher than its technical implementation competence.

Ernst & Young is best-suited to large enterprise buyers of finance management service consulting services seeking a provider with deep expertise in the finance domain. However, in a number of countries and regions — for example, in the relatively smaller European and Far Eastern market — about 35% of finance management service consulting service revenue comes from midmarket accounts. Apart from the other Big Four companies, a key differentiator for Ernst & Young, when compared with the other service providers, is helping clients negotiate highly regulated countries such as Japan, and the constantly evolving regulatory landscape in the European Union (EU).

Like all the Big Four accounting firms, Ernst & Young has the reputation of fully understanding what's needed for clients' IT and financial environments across the entire finance process life cycle, from a strategic to an operational perspective. As a consulting service provider for which finance is a core business, Ernst & Young understands the nature of risks and their impact on the enterprise. However, clients had cited examples of Ernst & Young's lack of knowledge in software applications and technology implementation capabilities that have resulted in lost bids. Ernst & Young needs to build its software package implementation capabilities and further strengthen its downstream application technology capabilities — for example, its recent acquisition of the SAP-focused practice, EnteGreat — to provide an end-to-end finance experience for its clients. Clients may benefit from the synergies created by its recently announced integration of previously separate member firms in Europe.

Vendor Rating: Positive

IBM built its finance consulting domain through its acquisition of PwC Consulting in 2002. Finance management services are part of IBM's Global Business Services (GBS) division. It provides advice to six industry verticals:

• General business
• Public
• Industrial
• Financial services
• Distribution
• Communications

It advises finance management service clients in five domains: finance transformation, finance strategy and finance operations improvement, BPM, business risk management and finance enterprise applications.

IBM has a strong global team of finance management consultants, which Gartner estimates at approximately 3,000 FTEs. IBM has a global delivery network for enterprise applications, which is leveraged by finance management services. Gartner estimates IBM's global finance management client base to be about 1,800. IBM's finance management consulting business emphasis includes:

• Leverage of their established IBM R&D and software labs, strength in technology implementation, a large global delivery network, a large presence across the globe, global financing options and its large base of technology installed-base clients to target finance management services.
• Its response to clients' challenging needs during the global economic crisis, IBM has introduced new offerings focused on cost reduction, treasury and cash management; optimization of finance operations, risk management and CFO dashboard, IFRS and XRBL solutions.

Clients are extremely satisfied with IBM, and three areas stand out: product independence, industry expertise and partnerships with alliance partners. Technical implementation competence and consulting competence also are above average. Clients were extremely satisfied with IBM's team members and project management skills, consulting management finance vision, finance acumen and overall "thought leadership" in finance. In addition, satisfaction ratings for IBM's software package expertise were above average.

IBM is best-suited to large global buyers of finance management consulting services that seek a provider with strong business and technology solutions in finance and risk advisory services. In addition, IBM supports clients that need to tap into a vast array of IT service offerings and resources, including financing options and outsourcing services. IBM's core capability is in business and IT transformation consulting services, and its strengths in technology and componentized solutions are well-regarded in the market. Client references provided high ratings across many important finance areas, including finance vision, finance acumen and thought leadership in finance. As a large consulting technology company, IBM must continue to build its reputation for finance expertise and evenly distribute its experienced finance resources across key countries to convey the depth and breadth of its knowledge and capabilities to its clients.

Vendor Rating: Strong Positive

KPMG has built on its finance reputation for being one of the Big Four accounting and auditing firms. Its advisory business is organized into three service dimensions:

• Performance and technology
• Risk and compliance
• Transactions and restructuring

KPMG advises finance management consulting service clients in six finance domains: finance strategy, finance reporting, financial process optimization, BPM and BI, cost and profitability improvement, risk and compliance services. Additionally, KPMG's 19 global methodology and tools in finance management consulting services cuts across industries and markets and connectivity to accounting advisory services, tax, corporate finance, financial risk management, supply chain management (SCM), and people and change.

KPMG has a particularly strong finance management consultant presence in Western Europe. This is followed by the U.S., APAC and Japan. Gartner estimates that KPMG's worldwide finance management consultant team is not quite 1,500 consultants. It has a global delivery center in India for application and process management services. Gartner estimates that KPMG's global finance management client base is 1,000. KPMG's finance management consulting business emphasizes:

• Its global alliance with IBM on ERP offerings, with joint sales and delivery teams that include, among other countries and regions, Germany, the U.K., India, Switzerland, Scandinavia and South Africa, where KPMG integrates risks and controls into ERP implementations for transformation engagements.
• It is a founding member of the XBRL International Consortium, showing its leadership in defining standards to improve financial reporting.
• In response to its clients' challenging needs during the global economic crisis, KPMG focused on areas of cost optimization through sourcing and shared services, cash and working capital flow, visibility to cash position and cash flow forecasting, and improving BI to provide insights to market conditions and business performance.

Clients are very satisfied with KPMG's flexibility in resources and timing and its good relationships with senior internal managers. On technology implementation, clients rated KPMG's strength at the lower percentile of the overall service provider scores, and KPMG's software package expertise and implementation methodologies were rated below average.

KPMG consulting is best-suited to buyers of finance management service consulting services that want a consultant with a core business in finance and risk management that requires senior management buy-ins at the beginning and end of projects. Like all the Big Four accounting firms, KPMG has expertise in highly regulated environments and markets, such as China and Japan. This sets KPMG apart from many other service providers and provides strong consulting competence. KPMG has a smaller team of finance management consultants compared with other large finance management service providers, as well as its immediate peers, such as Deloitte or PwC.

Proportionately, KPMG has larger teams of consultants in Europe and North America, as compared with APAC. In APAC, KPMG would be challenged to sell and deliver finance management services on-site outside Japan, India and Singapore. KPMG will need to build an even spread of experienced consultants, even in the countries of the region they currently operate in. KPMG's deep finance expertise enables it to fully understand the implications of finance internal controls to the IT environment, and KPMG needs to continue its strategy of building up its strength in numbers and capabilities as a software package expert. This will help provide an end-to-end finance services experience for customers. To achieve this, KPMG is working closely with IBM.

Vendor Rating: Positive

McKinsey & Co. has more than 75 years of experience, with a focus from the beginning on budgeting and finance. It provides global finance management services to the marketplace. McKinsey has the following functional practices:

• Business technology
• Corporate finance
• Marketing and sales
• Operational practice
• Organization
• Risk and strategy

Finance management services are located in business technology and risk practices. They are also a component in the corporate finance practice.

McKinsey has a finance management global practice in 52 countries. McKinsey's finance management consulting business emphasis includes:

• Its capabilities provide thought leadership to finance customers' issues through McKinsey on Finance, McKinsey Quarterly and McKinsey Global Institute.
• McKinsey develops direct relationships with CEO's C-level, based on its management consulting capabilities.

McKinsey has extremely strong management buy-in and transformational consulting competencies. McKinsey is best-suited to global buyers of finance management service consulting services seeking a provider with strengths in the business and finance domains with transformational capabilities in the advisory space only. McKinsey is extremely strong and has a good reputation in the finance arena and is supported by a global team of business technology office consultants who provide technology-driven strategies. McKinsey provides finance transformation services, finance advisory services, organization design and job-role design, and change and process management services.

However, McKinsey is seen less as a value for money service provider and has lost out on bids due to a shortage of strong deals-pursuit teams when presenting at tenders. McKinsey is also perceived to lack finance process depth, where McKinsey is not likely to be as strong in demonstrating its strength in process management services. McKinsey does not offer technical implementation capabilities; hence, it does not offer the full spectrum of a finance end-to-end capabilities.

Vendor Rating: Positive

PwC has three main business practices: assurance, tax and advisory services. It is the largest accounting firm, and its finance management consulting services offerings are delivered primarily through its advisory practice. This practice focuses on business transformation, business improvement, risk management and transactions. PwC's finance management service consulting business aligns its offerings to provide advice to CFO economic buyers. PwC also focuses on chief audit executives, M&A, CIO, COO, CRO, human capital and legal buyers:

• Across large-industry verticals — for example, financial services, health industries, energy, utilities, industrial products, retail and consumer, technology and public sector.
• In key areas of finance management services — for example, finance transformation, corporate performance management, close to report, finance shared services and outsourcing, finance systems and applications (SAP and Oracle), accounting standards (IFRS), treasury management, finance organization and people, IPO readiness, controls optimization and Saratoga, the performance benchmark tool.

PwC has a strong finance management services consultant presence in Europe and North America. This is followed by APAC and Japan. Gartner estimates that PwC has 2,700 finance management service consultants, excluding the BearingPoint acquired consultants. PwC's global delivery network — combined with the recent, finalized acquisition of BearingPoint's Global Delivery Centers in India and Shanghai, a shared-service center in Poland and the Oracle center of expertise in Northern Ireland — support its global financial management system team. In 2009, PwC Advisory provides services to 55% of the Fortune Global 500. PwC's global finance management client base for large-scale projects is more than 2,000.

PwC's finance management consulting service business emphasizes:

• Its active acquisition strategy in building up skills in the finance management areas with Entology (an Oracle consulting business, based in the U.S. with strengths in identity management and BI solutions); Mainsheet Corporate; Sustainable Finance, an advisory business focused on environmental and social risk management services in the financial sector; Karabus; BearingPoint Japan; and selective assets of BearingPoint's North American commercial businesses.
• Its response to the economic crisis through capital and liquidity management, cost management and reliability of financial management information systems.

PwC clients are extremely satisfied with their long-term relationship with PwC and its sensitivity to clients during the financial crisis. Clients were also extremely pleased with PwC's culture of teamwork, which showed a level of trust, commitment and respect. Client references rated PwC very strong in consulting competence and technical implementation competence.

PwC is most suited to buyers of global finance management consulting services that need to work with consultants with deep auditing, accounting, finance and risk backgrounds, and require financial best practices and comprehensive methodologies. PwC, has shown an active and progressive vision to expand its competencies in geography and software implementation skills through its acquisition of selected assets of BearingPoint's North American and Japanese Commercial Services practice, as well as India and Shanghai delivery centers.

Although this MarketScope is not rating the service providers on their actual activities in system and solution implementation skills, it is essential to the client's end-to-end finance experience for a finance consultant to understand the implications of complex finance processes integrating into equally complex IT environments, especially those linking global businesses. Gartner sees PwC as building up from its recent acquisitions. Like most of the Big Four, PwC's strength is in its people; however, with a smaller team as a proportion to its other audit and tax business, PwC needs to keep an even distribution of experienced and inexperienced consultants worldwide to manage its reputation with customers as being the largest accounting firm in the world. PwC's differentiator is also seen in its go-to-market target at economic buyers, its accounting and finance expertise, and its experience as an expert in highly regulatory markets, such as Japan and China.

Vendor Rating: Strong Positive