Let's talk about oil prices first, if we may. How much of it a worry is the current oil price above 88 dollars a barrel?

Well it certainly is unprecedented and we've not seen oil prices at this level before. And will the economy and will business in general be able to absorb those ever escalating oil prices those are simply questions for all of us to ask and I don't have the answer.

Well you've been in the game, if you don't mind me saying this for..for many years. The credit crunch we are witnessing( Yes I have.)The economic downturn ,the volatility in the stock markets. Is this a unique event in your experience or is it just the, the merry pattern , the merry merry-go-round?

Well, what I often say when I speak for our partners is the only constant in business is going to be change. But what I do think is new about the environment you just described is the pace of change both the magnitude and the pace of change . It's unprecedented. And this requires our clients to be much more agile much more adaptable to be able to both see challenge and then also capture opportunity. And the same is true for our business in professional services as we work to help our clients absorb and deal with these changes and adapt in a very dynamic environment.

And given the tightened lending environment, the expected slowdown in some major economies, do you see that the outlook for the next year, 2 years is pretty gloomy?

Well, I certainly wouldn't use the word gloomy, but I would acknowledge that part of the strength of the underlying economy is certainly true in the US and I think it's also true globally, has been the availability of liquidity to the consumer. And that liquidity in part has been fueled by a very strong housing market. So as we see that housing market tempered, slowed down and even started to decline. Some of that liquidity is coming out of the market place and as we watch our financial institutions reprice risk associated with those credit instruments. There's a lot of change to absorb. What will the impact be? I don't know, But for sure, growth will be slower than it would have been otherwise.

Now I've got some details of your results here, you are boasting of your fifth consecutive year of double-digit revenue growth with all these worries that we've been talking about, is that why you are doing so well. So many companies are going to you and say---help us.

Well there is no question that part of the professional services market that we are driving is helping our clients deal with change. For us to have enjoyed double-digit growth in our assurance business, double-digit growth in our tax business , double-digit growth in our financial advisory business and double-digit growth in our consulting business. It certainly just illustrates one more time, that there is a professional services market that is created by change. And that's in fact the essence of our business, helping our clients absorb change helping our clients deal with change...

Notes:

Merry-go-round: Merry-Go-Round is a 20 person capacity 1 1/2 minute ride complete with exotic zoo animals, as well as, standard carousel horses(旋转木马）