America's unsung accounting boom低调的美国会计繁荣
Growth in numbers
Jun 15th 2006 | NEW YORK
From The Economist print edition
A sign that times are good in the overlooked world of accountants
迹象表明，世界会计师的好时光到来了

WITH all the grisly headlines about Enron, Refco and so forth, you might suppose that America's accountants were going through hard times. The top firms tend to reinforce this impression by chasing all sorts of business, from risk consulting to merger advice—anything rather than tabulating a company's books. The reason is often thought to be that this is shamefully unglamorous or just too sluggish. In fact, accountants may simply be keeping quiet about a boom.

看到所有关于安然、瑞富（注1）等公司耸人听闻的报纸头条，你也许会猜测美国会计师将迎来难过的日子。更能加深这种印象的是，大事务所们追逐从有风险的审计到兼并顾问的所有业务，唯独缺少对公司内部的认真审查。一般认为这是因为这些行为乏味而不光彩或只是公司行动迟缓，实际上，会计师们仅仅是悄悄的迎来了会计业务繁荣。

In all, the revenues of the big accounting firms grew by a healthy 15% last year. And some firms have done much better than this. If the Siegfried Group, of Wilmington, Delaware, were instead known as Siegfried Technologies and worked with silicon transistors, it would be the toast of venture capitalists. Revenues have sextupled in the past two years, to m. In 2003 its core accounting business had just 15 clients; last year it had 100; by the end of May it had 155. More than 50 of these are among America's largest companies. Siegfried has even received business from a Big Four accounting firm.

去年几大会计师事务所收入增长为健康的15％，而且还有一些事务所取得了更好的成绩。如果特拉华州威尔明顿的齐格弗里德集团换作是著名的硅处理器制造公司齐格弗里德科技的话，它就将成为风险投资家们的美餐了。它的收入在过去的2年里增长了6倍，达到了7300万美元。在2003年它只有15家核心会计业务的客户，去年就达到了100家，而到今年5月末则为155家，其中超过50家是美国的大公司，齐格弗里德公司甚至还能从四大会计师事务所（注2）那里获得业务。

Siegfried's astonishing growth is explained by what it does not do: consulting and auditing, the signature products of the big firms. Siegfried is on the other side of the outsourcing boom: it is an insourcer. Clients call, often in a panic, needing accountants for something a bit different—a merger, or a spin-off, or an unforeseen problem (of which there are lots). Siegfried may send a few accountants; it may send several hundred.

齐格弗里德令人惊奇的增长可以解释为它没有涉及下面的业务：咨询和审计――大事务所们的标志业务。齐格弗里德站在繁荣外围业务的反面，它是立足于企业内部业务的会计服务提供者。客户的需求往往是紧急的，它需要职能稍具差别的会计师――兼并业务，或分拆业务，或者是未预见的问题（企业里往往有许多）。此时齐格弗里德只会派几个会计师，而大事务所往往会派几百个。

Typically, its accountants stay with a company for six to nine months. Since Siegfried itself does not make recommendations on accounting practice but merely provides labour, it thinks (but is not quite sure) that it is not exposed to the legal risks facing conventional external accountants. In the past the separation between a company and its accountants was seen as a virtue. It still is—but companies increasingly need someone to put their numbers together competently, with the outsiders coming in later
to audit the results.
典型的情况是，他们的会计师们将在6－9个月时间中一直待在企业里。因为齐格弗里德本身对会计实务不提供建议，而只是提供会计操作人员，它认为（但并不是肯定）这样不会像传统的外部会计那样承担法定风险。在过去企业和会计师分离被认为是优点，当然现在仍然是，但是企业越来越需要有人胜任的处理账目，然后请入外部人员进行审计。

Siegfried stumbled into this niche by chance. In 1988 its founder, Robert Siegfried, left Arthur Young (one of the then Big Eight accounting firms) to set up a small consulting and auditing firm in Wilmington. With hindsight, it would be hard to imagine a more toxic business plan: it was just this sort of model that was blamed for the weak accounting of the late 1990s. Mr Siegfried's good fortune was to have his course changed by a client. In 1995 DuPont, a big chemicals company, sold a large medical imaging unit to Sterling Diagnostics, a smaller company from South Carolina. In a hurry, DuPont needed someone to create a new set of accounts and Sterling needed a far larger financial system. DuPont had no one to spare and Sterling had no one with the expertise. Siegfried's first temporary assignment ended up lasting for two years.

齐格弗里德是偶然的找到这个生存之地的，1988年它的创立者罗伯特. 齐格弗里德离开安永（现在四大会计师事务所之一），在威尔明顿建立了一个小的咨询和审计公司。事后来看，很难想象能找到比这个更致命的商业计划了：90年代末期会计业务的弱点正是归罪于这种业务模式。齐格弗里德的锦绣前程被客户的一课所改变了。1995年化学巨头杜邦向南卡罗来纳州的小公司斯特林影像诊断公司出售一个大的药物研究部门，此时杜邦迫切需要有人建立一系列新账目，而斯特林则需要一个更大的财务部门。杜邦已经抽不出会计人员，而斯特林则缺乏相关的专家，于是齐格弗里德首次上阵救火，这次业务一直持续了2年才结束。

Such needs, it turned out, are not uncommon. After years of cutting staff numbers at headquarters, companies often lack people to throw at a special project and loathe the idea of taking on staff who, if all goes well, will be sacked within a year. By 1998 Siegfried had received assignments from JPMorgan, AstraZeneca and AIG. By 2003 it was opening offices around the country. It now has 27. Consulting and auditing have been dumped: too risky and too distracting.

这样的需求并非被证明是不常见的，在多年削减总部的雇员后，企业通常缺乏人力投入到特定的项目，同时又不愿在业务顺利的情况下短暂雇佣职员。1998年齐格弗里德接到了JP摩根、阿斯利康和美国国际集团的业务，2003年它在全国都开展了业务，现在它已经拥有第27个会计咨询事务所，同时审计业务由于风险过大和变化莫测而被抛弃了。

Mr Siegfried estimates that the business of providing high-end temporary accounting help is already worth billion a year, half going to traditional firms and half to firms like his and big temporary-staff companies such as Manpower, Robert Half and Resource Connections, an accounting specialist. All these firms boast high share valuations, suggesting that their success is not entirely a secret and that more is expected.

齐格弗里德先生估计提供临时高级会计服务的业务每年能赚50亿美元，其中一半流向传统会计事务所，一半流向同他类似的事务所和万宝盛华、Robert Half等大型临时雇员公司及Resource Connections这样的专业会计公司。这些企业都拥有值得夸耀的高市值，表明他们的成功并不完全是秘密，而且未来也是一片光明。

注1：安然、瑞富这些都是遭受会计丑闻的公司。
注2：现在的四大会计师事务所为普华永道、毕马威、德勤和安永。