PricewaterhouseCoopers and BP Amoco announced this week a 10 year outsourcing contract transferring much of the energy giant's back office and accounting work to PWC. The deal is worth over $1 billion.

Over 1200 BP Amoco employees in the company's Accounting and Application Systems Shared Services Group will join PWC's new Centre of Excellence outsourcing outfit, and will provide services to BP Amoco as well as other multi-national organizations.

By trimming its internal accounting operations and re-deploying 1200 employees to PWC, BP Amoco will be able to better focus on its core business, increase operating efficiencies, and achieve strategic business goals.

PWC gains experienced employees -- critical to their ongoing growth -- whose background can be leveraged for other multi-national clients.

The importance of this announcement is that it shows a renewed effort on the part of mult-national corporations to make cost savings a part of the ongoing business strategy, not just an occasional effort. It further acknowledges the desire for both large and small corporations alike to focus on what they do best, and outsource the rest.