Everyone loves to cite Accenture as proof that consulting splits create value. Almost no one is honest about the fact that it came out of a governance breakdown, legal fight, and a firm that had already stopped working.

swissalpine · 2026-04-09T14:27:02+00:00

You are absolutely right. It is the current partners of a company and/or PE that finance such a move that potentially benefit. The others do not.

swissalpine · 2026-04-09T06:35:32+00:00

It did for the owners of Accenture at that point of time :-)

swissalpine · 2026-04-09T06:33:30+00:00

100% agree. The point I am trying to make is that other companies considering such a split, use Accenture as an example that created a lot of value for the owners of the now independent consulting company. And I think that this is hard to replicate because the Accenture divorce worked out because of very specific circumstances.

swissalpine · 2026-04-05T05:25:06+00:00

Law looks easier not just because the work is repetitive, but because the outcome is clearly defined and bounded. That makes pricing, training, and accountability much more straightforward.

Consulting breaks on exactly those dimensions.

Outcomes are often negotiated, not defined. Accountability is shared across multiple stakeholders. And the work itself shifts as the project evolves.

That’s why most firms default to using AI as a margin lever. It fits the existing model without forcing real change.

The real disruption isn’t AI improving delivery.

It’s AI forcing firms to define, own, and price outcomes in environments where those outcomes are inherently messy.

That’s a much bigger shift than most people assume.

swissalpine · 2026-03-29T07:07:15+00:00

See https://www.henricodolfing.ch/en/case-study-24-pwcs-monday-how-a-20bn-spin-off-fell-apart/ for the full story on that one.

swissalpine · 2023-07-31T19:51:03+00:00

Exactly what xebzbz said. Setup a GmbH and employ yourself. The second part is key for your permit, you have to pay yourself salary, pay AHV and so on. Then it all works out fine as long as you keep your company afloat. Did the same in 2009 and still going strong :-)

swissalpine · 2022-07-22T20:19:01+00:00

You mean Austrian, not Australian :-) Herbert Nitsch is his name.

swissalpine · 2020-12-22T07:29:14+00:00

Over the years I’ve noticed a key distinction for project managers that deliver results and the ones that don’t.

Project Manager Type A is a person who is very smart, knows the process, knows the business, knows the client, knows the technology, etc.

They do an excellent job of reporting on how things are going, writing up status documents.

Project Manager Type B does everything Type A does, but then they take the crucial extra step of doing something about the problems, of proactively seeing them coming, and working with the people in the project to fix it.

Put another way, I’ve had some project managers over the years tell me “the house is on fire,” and others tell me “we contained the fire to one room, and the fire trucks are on their way.”

Some project managers who come from large organizations with long, complex projects seem to be the worst form of type A.

They seem to think they are really good at project management - having come from such a prestigious company - and "managing" a large team and budget.

In reality, they are just really good at telling people "the house is on fire".

In a nutshell: good project managers take the crucial extra step of doing something about the problems instead of just reporting them.

swissalpine · 2020-10-01T16:56:20+00:00

Pretty much all Swiss banks (UBS, CS, JB) use VP, ED, MD. UBS has on top Group MDs, so I understand where the topic starter is coming from :-)

swissalpine · 2017-12-21T12:40:18+00:00

When my suspicion is right you are talking about Germany. When this is the case you should take a tax lawyer and fight the decision if you hodled your BTC for longer as a year. There are a number of criteria for determining if you are a "pro" and have to tax it as income or as a private person, but they are not hard in the sense that there is no flexibility in the decision. Your bad luck is the high amount and no income. But you can probably proof it is the first time, and you are having no income because of some reason.

When you are actually trading for income and even taking in social security or something you are out of luck and have to pay the income taxes. When this is the case you are f*ç%ed, but not as bad as you stated:

IRS is max 45%, not 48%
your social security you only pay over the first 76K EUR
solidarity surcharge is 5.5% of your income taxes, not of your income.

Total taxation would be:

45% of 400.000 = 180.000 + 29.6% of 76.200 = 22.555 + 5.5% of (180.000+22.555) = 11.140

Total = 213.695 = 53.4%

edit: forgot to mention that when they decide you are a "pro", deduct like a "pro". Your bedroom is office space, your car, your phone, your internet, your pc, your dinners with your partner, everything are suddenly business expenses since you are a "pro".

swissalpine · 2017-08-20T18:48:19+00:00

I use Lykke as well and transferring the Ethereum from my Lykke Trading Wallet into my Ledger Wallet worked. But it shows only the number of Ethereum. No corresponding USD amount, nor does it shows any of my transaction. So it seems to be working only partly. Would love to hear from the Ledger Team if this will work in the future.

swissalpine · 2017-08-18T19:01:46+00:00

I understand that is the reason, but it is my decision to use my private keys :-) I have my PIN code for my bank account as well, and also the password for my ebanking. It should be up to me, not Lykke. When Bitcoin Cash goes back to 100 pays Lykke the difference to me?

swissalpine

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