Quite a good article, here, from The Telegraph - for whatever reason the UK press always takes a more educated and friendly tone when reporting on corporate P.I.s. In this case the two firms featured are Diligence and Kroll in a discussion of the new due diligence recommendation currently being drafted for London's AIM stock exchange.

I highly recommend you give it a look, for another side of the P.I. world, one that you won't get from the endless permutations of the HP scandal being turned over elsewhere in the business pages (not that Diligence or Kroll have entirely sterling choirboy-like reputations, mind you, but lets focus on the positive).

As the article makes clear, both firms have found great success in doing great and subtle work on their clients' behalf - work that falls well within the bounds of the law and adds great value to the business process by enhancing the information available for decisionmaking and ensuring transparency in business transactions.

Thomas Helsby, who heads up a bundle of Kroll's international operations describes it quite eloquently in the article:

"What we do isn't secret, it is not even unique. At its most fundamental we deal with problems and opportunities, such as supporting lawyers in civil litigation cases. We investigate internal fraud and corruption. We may be working to recover assets or money obtained in a judgment..."There are only two ways information comes to you – through your ears and through your eyes. You ask, 'Who is going to know the information I am looking for and what is the basis on which he can reasonably share it with me?' Most of the time there is someone who knows who has a good reason to share it with you. It is about working out who they are, where they are, and the best way to talk to them."

Read on.

-- MDT

Labels: HP, Kroll