Fresh from its August split with sister firm Arthur Andersen, AC has wasted no time in focusing its efforts on redefining its strategy and moving forward. At its first partner meeting since its divorce from AA, AC said Thursday it would to look into the legal, regulatory and financial issues surrounding an IPO, but didn't say how much of the firm it would look to sell, or how much money it hoped to raise.

"The news was expected, we knew Andersen Consulting had to do something," said Anna Danilenko, a senior analyst in e-consulting services for Framingham, Mass.-based research firm IDC. "They either had to merge with a technology company, enter a consortium, or go IPO."

"It doesn't surprise me that they decided to go public," Danilenko said, "but a partial offering seems like a cautious step."

A partial IPO will let the firm raise some quick cash, while allowing it to keep its partnership intact and retain control of the company, Danilenko explained.

"The company seems to have a strong culture, it doesn't seem like they're the kind of firm that could just get dissolved in a large tech company," she added.

A partial IPO also allows AC to avoid the turmoil that often accompanies mergers, Danilenko added.

A Wall Street Journal article said an IPO could value the company at around $27 billion.

There has been significant activity among the Big Five's consultancies, driven by both market demand, and in some cases, by regulatory pressures for firms that do audit work to cut ties with their consulting arms. KPMG is taking its consulting arm public, with plans to offer some 367 million shares of stock in its IPO. PricewaterhouseCoopers is in talks with Hewlett-Packard to buy its consulting practice, and Ernst & Young sold its unit to Cap Gemini last year.

-- By Melissa Klein

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