经济学人434:管理合伙人制 选举新老板

 　　Governing partnerships²

　　管理合伙人制

　　Electing the boss

　　选举新老板

　　Deloitte prepares to vote for a new CEO

　　德勤准备选举新任CEO

　　EVER since the inception³ of the corporation, the “principal-agent” problem has bedevilled shareholders⁴. The partnership¹ structure that prevails at consulting, accounting⁵ and law firms is supposedly free of the risk of executives acting⁶ in their own interest at the owners'expense. As the businesses belong to the employees, the incentives⁷ of managers and proprietors⁸ should be aligned⁹. But leaders there must pay greater heed¹⁰ to the views of their worker-shareholders than do corporate¹¹ bosses, who need only answer to boards selected by proxy¹² votes that are rarely contested, and can simply issue orders to staff.

　　自公司成立以来，“委托代理”问题一直困扰着股东们。这种合伙制结构在咨询公司、会计师事务所和法律公司当中非常盛行，它被认为能够避免这样一种风险，即高管用所有者的资金从事跟自己利益相关的活动。虽然公司业务是由雇员经手，但是管理者的目标应该与企业所有者的利益一致。但领导人必须更加注意他们的同时也生为公司股东的员工们的意见，而不是公司老板们，因为他们只需要向精选出来并很少提出质疑的董事会回答问题、只需要简单地命令员工就行了。

　　德勤.jpg

　　This distinction is never more apparent than when the head of a partnership steps down. They will be dusting off the ballot¹³ boxes at Deloitte, the biggest of the “Big Four” global accounting firms. On August 15th Joe Echevarria, the boss of the American arm, said he would be leaving the firm. Rather than summon an executive-search agency to do some discreet¹⁴ recruiting, Deloitte will hold a leadership election.

　　然而当其中一位合伙人下台时，这样的差别对待就更加明显了。他们将准备在德勤重新使用投票选举。8月15日，德勤美国CEO乔埃切瓦里，说他要离开公司。此次，德勤决定举行领导人选举而不是通过猎头谨慎招聘来产生新任CEO。

　　The firm does not disclose the mechanics of the process. But most partnerships form a nomination¹⁵ committee on their executive boards to assess candidates on both their visions for the firm and how much support they command from peers. After a series of informal consultations¹⁶ with fellow partners, the committee delicately advises likely losers to bow out gracefully¹⁷. If these “soundings” yield a clear-cut heir apparent, the firm may proceed straight to a coronation vote where the new leader is rubber-stamped.

　　虽然德勤没有披露选举过程中的机制，但大多数采用合伙制的企业都会在董事会形成一个提名委员会，通过对公司未来的计划以及同行支持率等指标来评估候选人。在与合作伙伴进行一系列非正式磋商之后，委员会委婉地建议可能的失败者退出竞选。如果这些“声音”能够产生一个明确的候选人，那么公司可以不再进行评估和审核，而直接授权这位候选人。

　　If there are a few strong contenders, the process starts to resemble a political campaign. Candidates often write manifestos outlining their plans, and occasionally address the electorate¹⁸ at annual partners'meetings. Behind the scenes, horse-trading abounds¹⁹, as the candidates promise juicy posts to influential²⁰ partners who can deliver a block of support from colleagues. Each partner usually gets one vote, regardless of their equity²¹ stake.

　　如果竞选中出现了多个强有力的竞争者，这个竞选过程就开始变得像一个政治运动。候选人经常写下竞选宣言提出他们的计划，偶尔也会在每年的合作人会议上强调选举事宜。但是在幕后，交易比比皆是，因为候选人会向具有影响力的能带来同事支持的合伙人承诺以丰厚的回报。每个合伙人无论股权多少都只能投一票。

　　The race to succeed Mr Echevarria is likely to be hotly contested. Under his stewardship²² since 2011, Deloitte has grown impressively. In the first two years of his term, revenues at its American arm rose from $11.9 billion to $13.9 billion. The other members of the Big Four—EY, PwC and KPMG—sold their consulting arms after the Enron scandal and have since had to rebuild them from scratch. Deloitte stayed in consulting and Mr Echevarria has pushed that side of the business.

　　想要从埃切瓦里先生手里拿下接力棒也不是件容易的事。自2011以来，在他的领导下，德勤的业绩是非常惊人的。在他任期的前两年，其所在的美国分部收入从119亿美元上升到139亿美元。而四大的其他成员，安永、普华永道和毕马威，现在不得不重新建立他们在安然事件中出售的咨询分支。德勤仍然保持着咨询业务，这也是埃切瓦里先生努力的方向。

　　Since consulting's profit margins²³ are fatter than for auditing²⁴, Mr Echevarria's strategy has surely inflated²⁵ partners'paypackets. But it carries a greater risk of conflicts of interest, given the temptation for accounting firms to cut their clients slack on audits²⁶ and compliance²⁷ work in order to retain lucrative²⁸ consulting business. On August 18th New York's regulators fined PwC $25m for watering down a report on sanctions-busting transactions with Iran at a Japanese bank; they punished Deloitte for a similar violation²⁹ last year. The leaders of the Big Four have customarily come from the auditing side. If Deloitte's partners vote for a consultant³⁰, it will leave little doubt that the firm's roots in bean counting are being left further behind.

　　由于咨询的利润率比审计要高，埃切瓦里先生的策略肯定已经让合伙人的荷包膨胀了许多。但同时，考虑到如果要保持咨询业务的丰厚利润，它就需要削减审计和合规业务的客户，因此德勤也面临着更大的利益冲突的风险。8月18日，纽约监管机构因为普华永道淡化了日本银行违反制裁伊朗禁令的报告而对其处以2500万美元的罚款；他们在去年也对德勤类似的违规行为做出了惩罚。四大的领导人通常来自审计方。如果德勤合伙人投票给咨询顾问，那它就是毫无疑问地向外界表示，该公司的审计业务会落得更远。

1 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

2 partnerships   

n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 )；合伙人身份；合作关系

参考例句：

• Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句

3 inception   

n.开端，开始，取得学位

参考例句：

• The programme has been successful since its inception.这个方案自开始实施以来一直卓有成效。
• Julia's worked for that company from its inception.自从那家公司开办以来，朱莉娅一直在那儿工作。

4 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

5 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

6 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

7 incentives   

激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机

参考例句：

• tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
• Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者，提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

8 proprietors   

n.所有人，业主( proprietor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• These little proprietors of businesses are lords indeed on their own ground. 这些小业主们，在他们自己的行当中，就是真正的至高无上的统治者。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Many proprietors try to furnish their hotels with antiques. 许多经营者都想用古董装饰他们的酒店。 来自辞典例句

9 aligned   

adj.对齐的，均衡的

参考例句：

• Make sure the shelf is aligned with the top of the cupboard.务必使搁架与橱柜顶端对齐。

10 heed   

v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心

参考例句：

• You must take heed of what he has told.你要注意他所告诉的事。
• For the first time he had to pay heed to his appearance.这是他第一次非得注意自己的外表不可了。

11 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

12 proxy   

n.代理权，代表权；（对代理人的）委托书；代理人

参考例句：

• You may appoint a proxy to vote for you.你可以委托他人代你投票。
• We enclose a form of proxy for use at the Annual General Meeting.我们附上委任年度大会代表的表格。

13 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

14 discreet   

adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的

参考例句：

• He is very discreet in giving his opinions.发表意见他十分慎重。
• It wasn't discreet of you to ring me up at the office.你打电话到我办公室真是太鲁莽了。

15 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

16 consultations   

n.磋商（会议）( consultation的名词复数 )；商讨会；协商会；查找

参考例句：

• Consultations can be arranged at other times by appointment. 磋商可以通过预约安排在其他时间。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Consultations are under way. 正在进行磋商。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

17 gracefully   

ad.大大方方地；优美地

参考例句：

• She sank gracefully down onto a cushion at his feet. 她优雅地坐到他脚旁的垫子上。
• The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line. 新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。

18 electorate   

n.全体选民；选区

参考例句：

• The government was responsible to the electorate.政府对全体选民负责。
• He has the backing of almost a quarter of the electorate.他得到了几乎1/4选民的支持。

19 abounds   

v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The place abounds with fruit, especially pears and peaches. 此地盛产水果，尤以梨桃著称。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• This country abounds with fruit. 这个国家盛产水果。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

20 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

21 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

22 stewardship   

n. n. 管理工作；管事人的职位及职责

参考例句：

• The organization certainly prospered under his stewardship. 不可否认，这个组织在他的管理下兴旺了起来。
• Last, but certainly not least, are the issues of stewardship and ethics. 最后，但当然不是微不足道的，是工作和道德规范的问题。

23 margins   

边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数

参考例句：

• They have always had to make do with relatively small profit margins. 他们不得不经常设法应付较少的利润额。
• To create more space between the navigation items, add left and right margins to the links. 在每个项目间留更多的空隙，加左或者右的margins来定义链接。

24 auditing   

n.审计，查账，决算

参考例句：

• Auditing standards are the rules governing how an audit is performed.收支检查标准是规则统治一个稽核如何被运行。
• The auditing services market is dominated by a few large accounting firms.审计服务市场被几家大型会计公司独占了。

25 inflated   

adj.（价格）飞涨的；（通货）膨胀的；言过其实的；充了气的v.使充气（于轮胎、气球等）( inflate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）膨胀；（使）通货膨胀；物价上涨

参考例句：

• He has an inflated sense of his own importance. 他自视过高。
• They all seem to take an inflated view of their collective identity. 他们对自己的集体身份似乎都持有一种夸大的看法。 来自《简明英汉词典》

26 audits   

n.审计，查账( audit的名词复数 )v.审计，查账( audit的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Requires that use of all bond funds is subject to independent audits. 需要使用的所有债券基金是受独立审计。 来自互联网
• Support the locations during customer-visits, audits and quality-improvement programs. 支持客户参观，稽核和提高品质等项目。 来自互联网

27 compliance   

n.顺从；服从；附和；屈从

参考例句：

• I was surprised by his compliance with these terms.我对他竟然依从了这些条件而感到吃惊。
• She gave up the idea in compliance with his desire.她顺从他的愿望而放弃自己的主意。

28 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。

29 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

30 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。