Short Takes

Community Work

answerthink Inks Magna Carta

Shortly after answerthink merged with the firm Think New Ideas in November 1999, Allan Frank, the president, went on a sort of road trip, visiting the new offices.

"I felt like I was in a Dilbert cartoon. 'Hi, I'm from corporate, and I want to tell you why it's good to be here,'" says Frank, who took along with him a presentation containing the firm's core values. But, he adds, he didn't feel that the words were resonating individually.

From January through June of last year, Frank visited the offices again.

This time, he chose leaders to head community councils in each of the firm's 17 offices. In addition to their jobs, these leaders would work on creating community in and outside the office.

They have done things like sponsor food drives, tutor middle school students, and develop Web sites for charitable groups. The leaders, who meet quarterly, had their own ideas about what answerthink's core values should be, and drew them up in an answerthink Magna Carta.

The Arts

KPMG Rolls Over Beethoven

Word has it that KPMG's German practice recently traded in its PalmPilots for a piano. So, roll over Beethoven and tell Accenture the news, KPMG's got the rocking pneumonia and needs a shot of rhythm and blues. Apparently, you have only to hear a single rendition of the practice's newly authored aria to agree that Beethoven is no doubt rolling over.

Sidebar: IBM Gives Life Sciences a Boost

Taking advantage of the life sciences industry's growing appetite for information technology services, IBM has created a new consulting practice dedicated to life sciences.

The new practice will help biotech and pharmaceutical research and development organizations leverage information technology to accelerate the development of new medical treatments. Services will include consulting, systems integration, and strategic outsourcing in the areas of data management, knowledge management, and e-business services.

A recent Frost & Sullivan study predicted that life sciences companies would spend nearly $6.5 billion on IT services by 2004.

Global Outlook

Long-awaited corporate tax reforms in Germany and tax reductions in other European countries have led the average corporate income tax rate to drop to 33.75 percent, according to KPMG's corporate tax rate survey.

The report covers 58 countries, including the 29 member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Asia-Pacific, and Latin American regions.

The general trend for developed countries to decrease the tax rate "gap" between themselves and less developed countries is continuing. The developed countries in the OECD have an average corporate income tax rate of 32.96 percent, which represents a decrease from the 2000 average of 34.02 percent.

While the survey shows an interesting snapshot of the corporate tax rates around the world, KPMG points out that a low tax rate does not necessarily mean a low tax burden. For individual countries, the tax rate must be applied to the tax base in order to measure tax burdens. In order to secure tax revenues, a cut in one tax often leads to an increase in others. However, in the absence of harmonized tax bases, a comparison of tax rates can give a useful impression of international corporate tax burdens.

Traveling

Conversations with My Father/Mother

PricewaterhouseCoopers has developed a Parent Survival Guide for men and women of the firm who spend the majority of their workweek away from their home and families. Highlights:

• Talk with your spouse and family about the effects of travel before you do it. Denying that being away from your family will change the family dynamic is unrealistic.

• Make sure your spouse knows how to get in touch with you. If you don't have a pager or a cell phone, get one. It is very distressing and frustrating for your spouse not to be able to reach you in an emergency, especially when you are far from home.

• Put a map on your child's wall and use sticky dots or pushpins to indicate where you are working. Use this as an opportunity to tell them a little bit about this place.

Sidebar: Careers/Roger Nelson's New Gig

Roger R. Nelson, the former deputy chairman of consulting services for E&Y, has been appointed to NerveWire's board of directors.

Nelson was largely credited with building Ernst & Young's consulting practice during his tenure of over 30 years. He handed the reins to Terry Ozan on the eve of the practice's sale to Cap Gemini.

In addition to his work for NerveWire, Nelson also serves as an adjunct professor of accounting and information systems at Northwestern University's J.L. Kellogg School of Management and contributes his time to several charitable organizations.