Not every company is sitting on its hands until the economy improves. Insurance giant Aon is taking on a significant amount of short-term debt to acquire Hewitt Consulting for $4.9 billion and spend on its brand to exploit new opportunities.

The Hewitt deal will help Aon get a firm foothold in human resources and benefits outsourcing, significantly increasing Aon's market share in this area and positioning the company to take on rival insurance broker and consulting big Marsh and McLennan. The move also gives Aon a more balanced mix of insurance brokerage and consulting revenue.

Submitted by Caleb Newquist, republished from Going Concern, Accounting News for Accountants and CFOs.

Retired Andersen CEO and Managing Partner, Duane Kullberg was part of a panel discussion that went on at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin this week where he was the featured speak on the "The Rise and Fall of Arthur Andersen".Kullberg was part of a panel that included our friend Jim Peterson of Re:Balance and Bill Goodman, President of Schneck SC, a firm with offices throughout Wisconsin that also discussed the future of the audit profession.

Kullberg served as the Andersen CEO from 1980 to 1989 but "the profit-driven company culture in the 1990s, that valued sales more highly than the ethically rigorous auditing practices that built the accounting firm," was ultimately brought the firm down.