Deloitte : Everything you need to know

Deloitte: Everything you need to know

About Deloitte

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, also known as Deloitte, provides audit and assurance, tax and legal, consulting, financial advisory, and risk advisory services to nearly 90% of the Fortune Global 500 companies and thousands of other private enterprises.

According to the company, its more than 345,000-strong workforce allows it to “deliver measurable and lasting results that help reinforce public trust in capital markets, enable clients to transform and thrive, and lead the way toward a stronger economy, a more equitable society, and a sustainable world.”

Deloitte has offices in more than 150 countries. It is also one of the world’s Big Four accounting firms and the largest professional services network globally based on 2021 revenue.

Deloitte history – timeline

• 1845 – William Welch Deloitte founded the company in London, UK
• 1849 – Deloitte became the first person in the world to be appointed an independent auditor, conducting the audit of the Great Western Railway (GWR)
• 1857 – Deloitte enlisted its first ever partner, Thomas Greenwood, and changed its name to Deloitte & Greenwood
• 1880 – The company opened an office in New York
• 1890 – The firm opened a branch on Wall Street headed by Edward Adams and P.D. Griffiths
• 1896 – Charles Waldo Haskins and Elijah Watt Sells formed Haskins & Sells in New York
• 1900 – George Touche and John Ballantine Niven established Touche Niven in the Johnston Building at 30 Broad Street in New York
• 1933 – Colonel Arthur Hazelton Carter, president of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants and managing partner of Haskins & Sells, testified before the US Senate Committee on Banking and Currency, helping convince Congress that independent audits should be mandatory for public companies
• 1947 – George Bailey, then president of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, launched his own organization, which later merged with Touche Niven and A.R. Smart to form Touche, Niven, Bailey & Smart
• 1969 – Touche, Niven, Bailey & Smart changed its name to Touche Ross
• 1972 – Robert Trueblood, chairman of Touche Ross, led the committee responsible for recommending the establishment of the Financial Accounting Standards Board
• 1972 – Deloitte (the company), then known as Deloitte, Plender, Griffiths & Co., merged with Haskins & Sells to form Deloitte Haskins & Sells
• 1989 – Deloitte Haskins & Sells merged with Touche Ross in the US to form Deloitte & Touche
• 1995 – The partners of Deloitte & Touche decided to create Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group, now known as Deloitte Consulting
• 2000 – Deloitte acquired Eclipse, which was later divided into Deloitte Online and Deloitte Digital, adding internet design to the firm’s consulting capabilities
• 2002 – Arthur Andersen’s UK practice, the firm’s largest outside the US, along with its practices in Spain, the Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium, Mexico, Brazil, and Canada, agreed to merge with Deloitte’s UK practice
• 2005 – Deloitte acquired Beijing Pan-China CPA to become the largest accountancy firm in China
• 2007 – Deloitte began hiring former employees of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for their competitive intelligence unit known as Deloitte Intelligence
• 2009 – The firm purchased the North American public service practice of BearingPoint, formerly KPMG Consulting, for $350 million after it filed for bankruptcy protection
• 2010 – Deloitte LLP took over the UK property consultants Drivers Jonas
• 2011 – Deloitte acquired DOMANI Sustainability Consulting and ClearCarbon Consulting to expand its sustainability service offerings
• 2012 – The firm announced the acquisition of Übermind, a mobile advertising agency, marking its entrance into the mobile application field
• 2012 – Deloitte acquired Recombinant Data Corporation, a company specializing in data warehousing and clinical intelligence software
• 2013 – Recombinant by Deloitte merged with internal informatics unit Deloitte Health Informatics and launched ConvergeHEALTH by Deloitte
• 2013 – Deloitte acquired Monitor Group
• 2014 – Deloitte introduced Rubix, a blockchain consultancy providing advisory services for private and public businesses
• 2016 – Deloitte created its first blockchain lab in Dublin
• 2016 – Deloitte Canada set up a Bitcoin automatic teller machine and equipped a restaurant in its office complex to accept bitcoin as payment
• 2016 – Apple Inc. announced a partnership with Deloitte aimed at boosting sales of its phones and other mobile devices to businesses
• 2017 – Deloitte launched a second blockchain hub in New York
• 2022 – Deloitte announced that it would no longer carry out business in Russia or Belarus and would separate its practices within these countries from its global network of firms
• 2022 – Deloitte acquired Etain, a data and digital transformation specialist firm based in Northern Ireland

Leadership at Deloitte

Punit Renjen – Global CEO

Renjen was appointed Deloitte Global CEO in June 2015. He was re-elected to the post in 2019. He is also a member of the Deloitte Global Board of Directors. Prior to his current role, Renjen served as the chairman of Deloitte LLP (Deloitte US) from 2011 to 2015. He also served as CEO of Deloitte Consulting from 2009 to 2011.

Over the course of his career, Renjen has been recognized by numerous organizations for his leadership, business acumen, and commitment to societal impact. In 2022, he was awarded by the Economic Times as “Global Indian of the Year.”  In 2021, the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) recognized him with its Global Achievement Award in honour of his corporate leadership in fighting COVID-19. He was also awarded the Oregon History Makers Medal in recognition of his business leadership in 2020. Additionally, he was named by EMPower to their list of Top 100 Ethnic Minority Executive Role Models 2020.

Sharon Thorne - Deloitte Global Board Chair

Thorne serves as the Chair of the Deloitte Global Board of Directors. Prior to this, she was the Deputy CEO and Managing Partner Global & Strategy of Deloitte North West Europe (NWE) and a member of the Deloitte Global Board of Directors. She is an advocate for collective action on environmental sustainability and climate change and has long championed the firm’s ambition to achieve higher representation of women in leadership globally.

Prior to her role as Managing Partner Global & Strategy, Thorne was a Deloitte UK audit partner for 20 years. She has more than 30 years of experience auditing and advising clients across a broad range of sectors. This includes serving as the lead audit partner for FTSE-listed clients, coordinating their services around the world.

Culture

Deloitte is known for its strong support not just to its LGBT+ employees but also to the whole queer community. Its global Pride 2021 campaign “Can you see me, do you hear me” focused on the importance of its LGBT+ colleagues being seen and heard as their “true authentic selves.” For Pride 2022, Deloitte has kicked off #QueerAllYear, which explores LGBT+ perspectives and experiences in the workplace worldwide and the role allies play in supporting the queer community.

As regards sustainability efforts, Deloitte has collaborated with partners across the chemical value chain to reduce carbon emissions. In 2020, the company launched WorldClimate, its strategy to drive responsible climate choices “within the organization and beyond,” with the goal of addressing the world’s climate crisis with “achievable, measurable, and science-based actions.” Through this initiative, Deloitte has committed to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions for its operations by 2030.