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Accounting services firm Alvarez & Marsal has hired Lawrence Ferrara as the global chief learning officer of its transaction advisory group.

The move is notable for a couple reasons.

Though Alvarez & Marsal has 8,000 employees worldwide, it’s not among the world’s largest accounting services firms. But the company’s transaction advisory group, the business unit Lawrence Ferrara is joining, is in a different league.

The transaction advisory group is the fifth largest in the world before the rival business units of Alvarez & Marsal’s top competitors, the so-called Big Four. Those are the industry’s four largest accounting firms, which have much larger headcounts with over 100,000 employees each.

Alvarez & Marsal’s transaction advisory group helps companies and investors acquire businesses. It ensures that the businesses being bought live up to their sales pitch, which increases the chance the buyer will realize a return on investment.

Alvarez & Marsal’s professionals also provide sell-side services. They work with executives looking to sell their companies to ensure they’re getting a solid offer. 

Before joining Alvarez & Marsal, Ferrara worked at Big Four member PwC for 17 years. He most recently led employee training and professional development initiatives at a PwC unit responsible for taking on M&A, cybersecurity and regulatory advisory projects.

Besides the prominent industry role of Alvarez & Marsal’s transaction advisory business, the appointment of Ferrara is also notable for another reason. It highlights that Alvarez & Marsal is actively investing in employee training initiates across key business units, partly by hiring senior talent from its largest and most prestigious competitors.

There’s a recruiting dimension to Ferrara’s appointment. 

Because Alvarez & Marsal has to compete for talent with much larger firms, it needs to find creative ways of drawing employees. Offering solid professional development options is one way of achieving that. 

,“Market conditions don’t dictate the pace of our hiring or the investments in our people,” commented Paul Aversano, the head of Alvarez & Marsal’s transaction advisory group. He added that Ferrara’s will support the unit’s efforts to “continually improve our market leading retention and recruitment efforts.”

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