_On the other hand, note that some big shops, particularly in the big 4, offer huge discounts on consulting rates that they make up on audit works._ I'd be ver

_On the other hand, note that some big shops, particularly in the big 4, offer huge discounts on consulting rates that they make up on audit works._ I'd be very surprised to see this in 2011. Giving discounts to ensure audit work was one of the evils at the core of the Enron collapse and led directly to the _Big 5_ becoming _Big 4_ [1]. Even before Enron, the writing was on the wall. The Big 4 were very cautious about the conflict between highly paid "consulting" and audit work. How can you audit the effectiveness of the financial controls built into someone's SAP deployment, if it was you who implemented them!? This was partially the reason some of the Big 5 spun off their consulting arms [2] [3]. Don't forget, a large chunk of the Big 4 brand is their "independence" and "impartiality". How can you win audit work without those? (OK, doesn't work _exactly_ like that). [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Andersen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Andersen [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capgemini http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capgemini [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accenture http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accenture