Oh well - I suppose it was only a matter of time

Tell us more. We want to know EVERYTHING about it. We want every tiny detail you have. Thanks.

It will give the guys in BOP and FS something else to whinge about. When they're on the dole.

Does anyone have a view on the likely pay-off or whether voluntary redundancy will be an option?

Yes - according to the briefing in 123 on Thursday, VRs will be offered. My personal opinion is that not many people will take VR in this market - So it will be more of a formality.

The above post is inaccurate. No decision has been made on VR yet.

The most likely option is compulsory redundancy offering the statutory minimum. This is PA, after all.Expect the pay freeze to continue folks. Look forward to pay cuts and nil bonus next year, just as everyone else starts to pull out of the recession.

Well BOPer we can only hope that you are one of the CR, at least then you'll be moaning from the outside.Also, there'll still be plenty in the bonus pot this year - not as much as last year, but we are making good money.

If PA are making such good money, then why such a large round of compulsory redundancies just as everyone else is starting to recover from the recession?

Lots of partners wanting to maximise their own 2009 bonus and nobody at the top having the brains to realise if PA get any smaller, it will waste away to nothing. Yes, it should be used as an opportunity to get rid of some dross, but there needs to be recruits on the other side or in 2 years' time nobody will have a job.

There is unlikely to be a massive cull. I wonder how long though the current leadership team can last. Possibly time for some outside blood a la Moynihan in 92.

Is this chain being censored? Some comments have definitely been deleted.

Morning George. Yes we are obliged to moderate the forum - most of this takes the form of deleting obscene postings or those that contain libellous content about individuals. Bryan Hickson - bryan@top-consultant.com

It's a cull right enough -plenty of people on the way out including many who are nowhere near PIP, crap scores or anything else.How a mighty company can fall so badly is beyond me.

Those who live by the sword, die by it

“Those who live by the sword, die by it”What a load of ball aches. The only ones who will die by the sword are those who are fat, bloated, and fall at every obstacle. This encapsulates the physique and mindset of our PA partners: old, fat, and tired.

The previous post criticising PA's CEO was removed - why? TC seem to be regulating heavily the flurry of PA posts in recent weeks.

PA are not a fallen "mighty company" as a previous poster says. They were never mighty to begin with except in their heads. They will always be the lower middle class consultancy trying to challenge the respectable Big4 middle class and aspiring to be the MBBB aristocracy.

Er, know your history class boy. PA was once the largest consultancy firm in the world - bigger than MBBB - but was brought to its knees in the 70s and 80s by various factors. Moynihan rescued it in the early 1990s and turned it round to the extent that it is very strong in the UK and Scandinavia, less so elsewhere. But he never wanted to return PA to its former glories - more to establish it as an alternative or even complimentary to the Big 4 and MBBB.

“But he never wanted to return PA to its former glories - more to establish it as an alternative or even complimentary to the Big 4 and MBBB.”And just look what a success that has been. Indeed, there is a good phrase to sum up PA Consulting’s strategy and vision -- “has been”

There's not a great deal of insight to give. It's an embarassing, disgraceful but typical shambles

It is impossible to summarise PA's strategy because there isn't one. No one would aim for ever decreasing circles, surely?

Whilst I'm sure that PA's leaders aren't aiming for decreasing circles, it is somewhat hard to see what they / we are aiming for.Out of the many possible measures to gauge the success of a firm's strategy, it's hard to know which ones have been employed at PA in recent times e.g.- maintaining or growing market share- maintaining or growing solution offerings- maintaining or growing regional or national presence- retaining or developing capable people to enable ongoing delivery of a long term go to market strategy- maintaining an appropriate public presence / building awarenessWhat is still clear though is that PA is still a good profitable firm which counts for a lot in these troubled times.What's lacking for me is a sense of the medium to long term vision for the firm, or the degree to which the leadership have personally committed to it.PA people seem to be a generally capable bunch, but from corridor mutterings we seem to be in danger of losing morale (and people) unless the leadership become less interested in unimportant staff like controlling what colleagues write / blog online and focus more of their talent / energy in being visible and bolder in their vision and their willingness to discuss it / sell it.PA still has a lot going for it; both as a firm and a place to work, despite the pretty negative rants on here - more visible leadership and ambition would I'm sure be very well received by staff.

So say we all! Wholeheartedly agree with that post. PA is crying out for positive / new leadership!

There's a lot of personal commitment in maintaining the share price. That's the strategy.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens to the share price over the next year. The split last year is now agreed to have been a terrible mistake, and the credit crunch slide in business will really hurt the price for years to come.

Er, how was it a mistake? The share price jumped about 2 quid in 6 months, if anything the mistake was in not valuing the business correctly. Plus, if PA makes money, the share price goes up - it's not like the stock exchange you know!