In the four years since the Parmalat Fraud case hit, regulators have been attempting to define groupings of accounting firms.
Broadly, they wanted to prevent looser affiliations of accounting firms marketing themselves as a 'joined up global solution' and then denying responsibility when one of the affiliates made an error.
This meant that regulations were designed (based on an IFAC model) that defined networks and associations of accounting firms. Networks could brand under a single name, rely upon work performed in another network office, and gain traction in the marketplace hungry for alternatives to the Final 4. Associations would not have to do system-wide independence checks, might gain some liability protection for members, but were also enjoined from developing a 'market identity'. And then it all went pretty quiet. Until now.
The Swiss-based grouping of Horwath now has a 'standard bearer' firm in the US, the old Crowe Chizek firm, now known as Crowe Horwath, and heavily branded as such. Where this leaves the members of Horwath in the US other than Crowe is a good question. A similar occurrence has taken place at Baker Tilly, where WI based Virchow Krause are, "pursuing a name change that will make us the exclusive U.S. branded firm in the Baker Tilly Globally Branded Network."
It is very possible that we will see further changes among firms and their network/association affiliations as firms map their strategic and tactical needs to the direction that their grouping of firms has selected.