charge of the Restructuring Advisory
Services practice at Crowe Horwath in
Grand Rapids, Mich., said that providing
business recovery advice to manufac-turing-related businesses has been a
driver in the firm’s growth.
“Often in the middle market, our
client’s bankers are concerned because
the company has violated its covenants
and the business plan is no longer
viable,” he said. “We help to restructure
the business plan, right-size the cost
structure to the reduced revenue stream
and help them come up with a capital
structure that makes sense.”
Despite the bumpy road of IRFS
convergence, more firms are realizing
the value of offering consulting and
expertise in this area. “Companies will
be going through a fundamental change
in their financial systems and reporting
infrastructures,” said Brian Downey, an
audit partner at Amper, Politziner &
Mattia in Edison, N.J. “These changes
will require adjustments to financial
reporting systems, existing interfaces
and underlying databases.”
New Jersey-based Rothstein Kass
also listed IFRS consulting as one of its
fastest-growing niche areas. The firm
formed an IFRS Advisory Committee
last summer, and recently made several
significant additions to its Corporate
Advisory Group, which works with cli-
0
Top client categories
Percentage of firms increasing their business with these types of clients
(of 78 firms responding)
Manufacturing
Midsized businesses
Nonprofits
Real estate
Construction
Professional services
Pension plans
Technology
Healthcare facilities
Wholesale distributors
Individuals
Large businesses
State and local government
Colleges and universities
Retail trade
Hotels and restaurants
Auto dealerships
Small business
Banking and thrift companies
Finance companies/mortgage banks
Publishing/broadcasting/media
Government contractors
School districts
Brokers/dealers in securities and commodities
Insurance carriers/companies
Entertainment
Investment companies and mutual funds
10
20 30 40 50 60 70 80
client categories
ents to mitigate the challenges of convergence, according to Ken Stephens, a
principal in the Commercial Services
Group. “As we cycle out of recessionary
conditions, we expect the attention to
shift quickly to reporting convergence
issues,” he said.
MANUFACTURING STILL TOPS
Meanwhile, the manufacturing sector
has remained steady in the No. 1 slot as
the biggest source of client growth, with
76 percent of firms reporting an increase
— though that was down eight percentage points from last year.
“There are different parts of the
manufacturing sector,” said Kevin Pian-ko, partner-in-charge of manufacturing
and distribution for Weiser in New York.
“Companies involved in green initiatives are doing well, but I wouldn’t say
our entire manufacturing base is doing
well. We know their industry, we know
the issues that they face and we know
the key players in the industry who can
help solve their problems.”
Still, the results show that fewer
T100 firms are experiencing growth in
nearly all client categories as well.
One exception is college and university clients, with a paltry one percentage point increase in the number of
firms seeing growth there.
The Bonadio Group in upstate New
York, for example, capitalized on a need
in its market — a service provider for
colleges and universities that weren’t
satisfied with the Big Four. As a result,
the firm assembled a group of experts to
focus on this area, picking up a few academic clients at first, which led to several more through word of mouth.
“It was a good niche for us because
the only real competitor was the Big
Four,” Bonadio said. “Now we have a
service team that is as good if not better,
and of course our prices are much more
reasonable. We saw a need and filled it.”
