Crowe (company)

Crowe Horwath, LLP

Crowe Horwath Logo
Company type	Limited Liability Partnership
Industry	Professional Services
Founded	South Bend, Indiana, U.S. (1942)
Headquarters	Oak Brook, Illinois, U.S.
Key people	Charles M. Allen, CEO Kevin McGrath, COO Jim Fulton, CFO
Services	Audit Tax Consulting Financial Advisory
Revenue	US$507.8 million (2009)
Number of employees	2,500 (April 2009)
Website	www.crowehorwath.com

Crowe Horwath LLP is a professional services firm with offices throughout the United States, including California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas. According to PAR (Public Accounting Report), an independent publication covering the public accounting profession, Crowe ranked ninth in net revenue among the nation's top public accounting and consulting firms in 2008. Crowe brands itself as "The Unique Alternative to the Big Four." In addition to its U.S. presence, Crowe serves clients worldwide as an independent member of the Crowe Horwath International global professional services network. Crowe's services include assurance, consulting, risk management, tax and technology, among others. Crowe customers primarily consists of large and middle market public companies and large privately held businesses.

History

Crowe was founded in 1942 in South Bend, Indiana by Fred P. Crowe Sr. and Cletus (Clete) F. Chizek. Fred previously worked in public accounting for many years and served as the St. Joseph County auditor for eight years. Clete was head of the accounting department at the University of Notre Dame and worked part-time in public accounting.

Today, the firm has 25 offices and 2,400 personnel across the U.S. Crowe serves clients worldwide as a leading independent member of Crowe Horwath International. Crowe has been a part of the network since 1991.

The name of the firm was changed from Crowe Chizek and Company LLC to Crowe Horwath LLP on September 1, 2008.

Industry Recognition

From a client service and solutions standpoint, the firm has been recognized as an industry leader by numerous trade publications and organizations, including:

-Crowe was ranked as the ninth largest public accounting and consulting firm in the nation, based on U.S. net revenue, by the industry publication Public Accounting Report. (Public Accounting Report, published August 31, 2008)

-Crowe has been named to the Microsoft Business Solutions President's Club. (http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/events/wwpc/docs/PresidentsClub.pdf)

-The American Bankers Association (ABA) endorsed Crowe’s governance, risk and compliance management consulting services. Crowe’s risk management consulting services were chosen after a thorough review and analysis by ABA and its affiliate, the Corporation for American Banking, based on a wide range of factors including functionality, regulatory compliance, management strength, financial soundness and customer service. Crowe provides risk management consulting services to more than 500 financial institution clients nationally. (http://www.aba.com/Press+Room/052108CroweChizek.htm)

In February 2007, the public company auditing profession and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) launched the Center for Audit Quality (CAQ). Along with the AICPA, Crowe is one of the eight firms that co-founded the CAQ. Its mission is to foster confidence in the audit process and to aid investors and the capital markets by advancing constructive suggestions for change based on the profession’s core values of integrity, objectivity, honesty and trust. The CAQ convenes a public dialogue with key stakeholders across the country, facilitates discussions about improvements to the quality, relevance and integrity of financial reporting and conducts research on these topics. (http://www.thecaq.org)

Crowe is also one of only nine firms to be inspected by the Public Company Audit Oversight Board (PCAOB) because it audits more than 100 public companies, with smaller firms having an inspection every three years. As reported by World Accounting Intelligence, Crowe received a "relatively clean bill of health" in its most recent report from the PCAOB (http://www.worldaccountingintelligence.com/display_headlines_ab.php?id=15&newsid=15605&prev=true#).

Lately Crowe Horwath has been struggling finding its identity in the market place, clients have indicated Crowe appears to have a identity crisis. They are too small to play with the big four, but too large to play with the small private companies, this leaves Crowe without a sandbox. D Zorea out of Oakbrook, IL has been given the challenging task of reshaping Crowe's identity and finding Crowe a home in the playground.

Best Places To Work Awards

Crowe has received many awards from state and regional best places to work programs, including: Best Employers in Ohio, 2006-2009 (http://www.bestemployersoh.com/); Best Employers in Tennessee, 2007-2009 (http://www.bestemployerstn.com/); Best Places to Work in Indiana, 2006-2009 (http://bestplacestoworkin.com/); Best Places to Work in Kentucky, 2005-2009 (http://www.bestplacestoworkky.com/); Best Places to Work in New Jersey, 2007-2008 (http://bestplacestoworkinnj.com/); Best Places to Work in South Florida, 2007-2008 (presented by the South Florida Business Journal); Best Places to Work in Tampa, 2009 (presented by the Tampa Bay Business Journal); Chicago's Best and Brightest Companies to Work For, 2005-2009 (http://www.101bestandbrightest.com/pages/ch2009winners.cfm); and West Michigan's Best and Brighest Companies to Work For, 2005-2009 (http://www.101bestandbrightest.com/pages/wm2009winners.cfm).

In 2009, Crowe received the National Balance Award from the American Society of Women Accountants (ASWA) for its commitment to work/life balance and sensitivity to the concerns of women. Specifically, the ASWA cited Crowe’s Women’s People Resource Network and the Women Into Leadership program, both of which promote the advancement and retention of women at the firm(http://www.aswa.org/foundation/foundation-awards-program/award-winners/award-winners.html).

External links

• Crowe Horwath - Main site
• Crowe Horwath International - The Swiss Verein of which Crowe is part.