Corporate victims continue to be claimed from the debris left by the Enron debacle, with Deloitte Consulting reluctantly divorcing itself from Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu next month.
Deloitte Consulting's spin-off and rebranding as Braxton, announced in February last year, followed publicity over independence issues after the collapses of suchcorporates as energy giant Enron.
Concerns were raised about the supply of consulting and auditing work to the same client, identified as an issue in the Enron case.
Many in the profession protested that such concerns were unwarranted because of the Chinese wall protection inside the firms.
However, public perception and legislative change means the top four accounting firms are now split from their consulting arms.
Jon Williams, regional manager for Australia and New Zealand, said Deloitte Consulting would have preferred not to split but was forced to through legislation such as the United States' Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the need to soothe public concerns.
"A lot of change has forced us to do it," he said. "We did not choose to do it." The change was supported by all but one of the Australasian firm's 30 partners.
It is effectively a management buyout, with the partners retaining 19.9 per cent of the partnership for up to five years.
By keeping the business private, Deloitte Consulting has not followed the lead of some competitors which listed their consulting spin-offs.
Williams said the idea was considered, but "by remaining private we remain independent ... We are not influenced by other entities."
Braxton will be the largest privately owned consulting company in the world.
Williams says Braxton will position itself somewhere between corporate players such as McKinsey consultants and technological giants such as IBM. Staff were briefed on the company's strategy during a "Braxton day" last week.
No redundancies are planned in the Australasian operation.
