Top Areas for Sourcing
Additional Active Categories
Market Buzz and Trends to Watch
Top Areas for Sourcing
1. Corporate Accounting and Tax Preparation: 12-18 percent savings –
The Accounting and Tax Preparation industry is expected to generate over $68 billion in revenue in 2011. This represents the first year of positive growth since 2006 and a welcome change from the dismal performances of 2009 and 2010. Despite the recent performance uptick, industry revenues remain below their peak in the late nineties, prior to the corporate accounting scandals. The modest growth can be attributed to both the burgeoning economic recovery as well as the emergence of global accounting standards that are a consequence of the economic crises and meant to enhance corporate governance. Overall, the market remains favorable to buyers and will continue to do so for the near term as the economic environment remains tight. Expect supplier competition to intensify as the economy improves and providers angle for market share, limiting margins and suppressing billable rates. Demand for most industry services will remain subdued with minimal pressure from the major cost driver - labor rates. In summary, despite the recent strengthening of the industry and the impending economic recovery, buyer’s should look to take advantage of favorable conditions by reviewing spend profiles, right-tiering resources, and addressing billing rates through competitive sourcing initiatives.
2. General Corporate Law – 13-18 percent savings –
The Corporate legal markets continue to recover from the Great Recession of the past few years. However, even during recovery, key revenue generation areas such as corporate transactional work remain sluggish. Though now stable, the corporate representation is still below highs reached prior to the downturn and experiencing only slow growth in select markets. In fact, the HNR Peer Monitoring Index shows that market demand remained flat towards the end of 2010 as Q3 revenue was down one percent from the previous year. During this time, corporate clients have represented the most significant revenue pressure to firms. Client demand for fee reduction and increased efficiency gained significant momentum in the previous year and has not slowed despite the improved balance sheets of clients. CLOs became acutely aware of cost inefficacies during the past lean years and have since begun to partner with procurement departments to continue to improve cost out efficiencies. To this end, many have engaged in “make-buy” decisions as it relates to staffing internal legal departments versus the use of outside firms. With the cost of external legal representation typically 35-50 percent higher than internal resources, corporate clients are increasingly bringing ongoing and general legal tasks in-house to combat the substantially higher rates of outside counsel. Additionally, many clients are making requests for alternative fee arrangements, and firms are beginning to entertain fixed fees, contingency fees, and other arrangements. However, implementation remains slow and primarily usage has been limited to a case-by-case basis. The predictability of, and familiarity with, the hourly-billing model suggest that it is still too early to proclaim its demise. However, it is evident that alternative fee arrangements will become a more prevalent option this year and buyers are wise to continue to press this issue with partner firms or as part of a comprehensive sourcing initiative to drive further savings.
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Additional Active Categories
Accenture is seeing increased activity in the following Professional Services areas:
| Category |
|
Ext. Savings |
|
Comments |
Professional
Services:
Business
Consulting |
|
16-21% |
|
Precipitated by economic factors and increased financing challenges, market dynamics have created a significant challenge to the consulting industry. Companies of all sizes are cautious about adding consulting services in 2011 because the economic recovery has been so tepid. Kennedy Information, the leading research firm covering global consulting markets, expects that total demand for consulting services will continue to trend downward in 2011. The large number of viable suppliers in the market, coupled with latent capacity, makes this a competitive and attractive category for sourcing activity. |
| Legal Services: Litigation |
|
10-18% |
|
Litigation, including IP litigation, was down in every quarter of 2010. The downturn drastically reduced demand for services on a global level and depressed fees accordingly. Increased competition, a contracted market, and reduced costs provide a fertile market for buyers to take advantage of excess capacity. |
Legal Services:
M and A |
|
9-15% |
|
M and A activity has increased as of late and this market segment is showing signs of growth. However, there is still opportunity for buyers to capitalize on the favorable market conditions before the recovery becomes fully entrenched. |
Financial
Services:
Corporate
Cards |
|
Rebate Revenue |
|
The corporate card market remains competitive as card issuers increase their geographic capabilities through acquisitions, partnerships, and organic growth. In addition to the reduction in processing costs and increased financial reporting provided by corporate cards, customers are maximizing the volume-based rebates they receive from card issuers through competitive sourcing and consolidation. |
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Market Buzz and Trends to Watch
Small Firms Gaining Momentum - Hiring more Laterals from Large Firms and Fewer Junior Attorneys:
The cloud of doom and gloom has dissipated over much of the corporate legal market. With the economy picking up and law firms needing fresh bodies to replace the significant staff reductions of the past few years, we are seeing an increase in attorney hiring at all levels. Surprisingly, the most significant hiring dynamic has been migration at the partner level from large firms to smaller competitors. Lateral hiring of lawyers is nearly universal in law firms of all sizes, but small firms have historically not had the resources to compete for the top level hires. Smaller firms have been the largest benefactors coming out of the recession. General Counsels at big corporate clients are operating with tighter budgets, and big firm lawyers are increasingly finding it difficult to justify inflated rates. Some attorneys have made the move to smaller firms with less overhead to compensate for rate reductions, while gaining more hands on experience and greater work schedule flexibility. Other attorneys moved out of necessity after being forced out of big firms because their practices could not be sustained though the downturn.
Our Take:
This is good news for companies with tightening legal budgets There has been an ongoing bias towards the use of large firms, while there are often small and mid-sized firms that have the breadth of capabilities and staff to cost–effectively service large clients. One of the primary obstacles to transitioning has been the perceived notion that the attorneys staffed by the smaller firms would not represent the same value as those from the larger firms. The recent news may fundamentally change this perception and offer many corporate clients more options and cost effective solutions to consider. Accenture recommends that clients begin with a detailed analysis of all current firms utilized throughout the organization to identify any specific reasons each are utilized (e.g. industry-specific knowledge, specific relationships, etc.) and categorize between those providing routine (commodity) services and those performing specialized services. This analysis will provide the reviewer the ability to uncover opportunities for partnering with smaller specialized firms offering the best value opportunity.