I saw this article on the FRONT PAGE of the Times of India this morning (12th March 2012) and I felt like throwing up.
I had written this post on the 3rd of Jan 2011 and I believe it typifies the story captured above!
I have always had a distrust and disdain for Consultants – Men in Suits who are sometimes thieves in disguise.
The events of 2010 have proven beyond doubt that the breed of ‘Consultants’ who charge obnoxious sums of moneys for reports and certificates are nothing but hoax folks.
– Ernst and Young is being sued in the USA for wrongfully green lighting the Lehman Brothers books even as the financial firm tumbled into bankruptcy.
E&Y claims that they went by the rules of accounting practices, blah, blue blee – but THATS NOT THE POINT! They easily understood that Lehman was falsifing their books to show solvency, and hence as watch guards of millions of investors, they should have Screamt Out Loud!!
– Satyam collapsed in India and Price Water Coopers (PWC) was hauled up by Indian Finance authorities. A couple of their Directors were imprisoned. Again, how could a firm like PWC not know what was going on inside Satyam?
– Remember that Arthur Anderson actually went bankrupt since they were auditors of Enron and had failed to warn the world about that firm’s financial wrong doing!
Last week I met a brilliant entrepreneur in the Intreractive Media Training business. He revealed how one of the Big Consultants in India approached him and sold him a very tall and lucrative tale on how his business would be the best business to get funded by VC’s etc etc. On probing, he figured that the Consultants were only after him to sign a 8 lacs ‘report creation’ proposal and nothing else.
I believe that the Cost Structures of these big firms has gone out of whack. They are forced to hunt rich business ‘bakras’ on a very aggressive basis; almost just to survive, and in that process COMPROMISE on ethics, best practices and agree to leave their simple common sense judgement in their bathrooms.
I read such stupid reports of some stupid consultants who predict that the Indian Gaming market is some x millions of dollars and will become y billion in the next few years etc etc.
There is no basis nor science on how they generate these reports.
So, next time you see a Consultant approach you – take out your gun and not your cheque book.
Oh, and I forgot – I personally GOT CHEATED by no other than a Woman in a suit – Check out this story also – How Societe General tried to scam me.
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