For mostmajor accounting firms, the Enron era set profitability back decades when they were forced to abandon their highly lucrative consulting arms in an effort to shed even the vague appearance of a conflict of interest. Then, after the recession of 2008, the Big Four, like most companies, were left looking for ways to weather the storm, and sought refuge in their productive past as consultants. Today, nearly a decade after Enron, the rules are changed, but the profitability of old has not, and many of these renewed consulting divisions are growing exponentially. KPMG's consulting revenue topped $6 billion in 2010, for instance, and the company anticipates that that figure will surpass $15 billion by 2015; and while Deloitte's audit and tax divisions dipped 4 percent and 5 percent, respectively, last year, its consulting group jumped nearly 15 percent. Ernst & Young now has more than 20,000 consulting professionals, and PwC reported $6 billion in consulting revenue last year.
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