<SEC-DOCUMENT>0001193125-22-212633.txt : 20221209
<SEC-HEADER>0001193125-22-212633.hdr.sgml : 20221209
<ACCEPTANCE-DATETIME>20220804170109
<PRIVATE-TO-PUBLIC>
ACCESSION NUMBER:		0001193125-22-212633
CONFORMED SUBMISSION TYPE:	CORRESP
PUBLIC DOCUMENT COUNT:		1
FILED AS OF DATE:		20220804

FILER:

	COMPANY DATA:	
		COMPANY CONFORMED NAME:			HACKETT GROUP, INC.
		CENTRAL INDEX KEY:			0001057379
		STANDARD INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION:	SERVICES-MANAGEMENT CONSULTING SERVICES [8742]
		IRS NUMBER:				650750100
		STATE OF INCORPORATION:			FL
		FISCAL YEAR END:			1230

	FILING VALUES:
		FORM TYPE:		CORRESP

	BUSINESS ADDRESS:	
		STREET 1:		1001 BRICKELL BAY DRIVE
		STREET 2:		SUITE 3000
		CITY:			MIAMI
		STATE:			FL
		ZIP:			33131
		BUSINESS PHONE:		3053758005

	MAIL ADDRESS:	
		STREET 1:		1001 BRICKELL BAY DRIVE
		STREET 2:		SUITE 3000
		CITY:			MIAMI
		STATE:			FL
		ZIP:			33131

	FORMER COMPANY:	
		FORMER CONFORMED NAME:	ANSWERTHINK INC
		DATE OF NAME CHANGE:	20000628

	FORMER COMPANY:	
		FORMER CONFORMED NAME:	ANSWERTHINK CONSULTING GROUP INC
		DATE OF NAME CHANGE:	19980608
</SEC-HEADER>
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<TYPE>CORRESP
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<Center><DIV STYLE="width:8.5in" align="left">
 <P STYLE="margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman" ALIGN="center">THE HACKETT GROUP, INC. </P>
<P STYLE="margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman" ALIGN="center">1001 Brickell Bay Drive, Suite 3000 </P>
<P STYLE="margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman" ALIGN="center">Miami, Florida 33131 </P> <P STYLE="margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">August&nbsp;4, 2022 </P>
<P STYLE="margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman"><B><U>Via Email and EDGAR </U></B></P> <P STYLE="margin-top:6pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">Mr.&nbsp;Rufus Decker </P>
<P STYLE="margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">Ms.&nbsp;Linda Cvrkel </P> <P STYLE="margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">Division of Corporation Finance </P>
<P STYLE="margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">Office of Trade&nbsp;&amp; Services </P> <P STYLE="margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">Securities and Exchange
Commission </P> <P STYLE="margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">Mail Stop 3233 </P> <P STYLE="margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">100 F Street, N.E. </P>
<P STYLE="margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">Washington, D.C. 20549 </P> <P STYLE="font-size:12pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt">&nbsp;</P>
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<TD WIDTH="9%">&nbsp;</TD>
<TD WIDTH="4%" VALIGN="top" ALIGN="left">Re:</TD>
<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> <P STYLE=" margin-top:0pt ; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman; " ALIGN="left">The Hackett Group, Inc. </P></TD></TR></TABLE>
<P STYLE="margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:13%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">Form <FONT STYLE="white-space:nowrap">10-K</FONT> for the fiscal year ended December&nbsp;31, 2021 filed March&nbsp;4, 2022 </P>
<P STYLE="margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:13%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">Item 2.02 Form <FONT STYLE="white-space:nowrap">8-K</FONT> filed February&nbsp;22, 2022 </P>
<P STYLE="margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:13%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">File <FONT STYLE="white-space:nowrap">No.&nbsp;333-48123</FONT> </P>
<P STYLE="margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">Dear Mr. Decker and Ms. Cvrkel, </P> <P STYLE="margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-indent:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">On behalf of
The Hackett Group, Inc. (the &#147;Company&#148;), set forth below is the Company&#146;s response to your comment letter dated July&nbsp;29, 2022, relating to the Company&#146;s Form <FONT STYLE="white-space:nowrap">10-K</FONT> for the fiscal year
ended December&nbsp;31, 2021, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the &#147;SEC&#148;) on March&nbsp;4, 2022 (the &#147;Form <FONT STYLE="white-space:nowrap">10-K&#148;)</FONT> and the Company&#146;s Item 2.02 Form <FONT
STYLE="white-space:nowrap">8-K</FONT> filed with the SEC on February&nbsp;22, 2022. </P> <P STYLE="margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-indent:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">The responses are keyed to correspond to the numbered
paragraphs in your comment letter, which have been retyped herein in bold for ease of reference. </P> <P STYLE="margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman"><U>Financial Statements </U></P>
<P STYLE="margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman"><U>Note 1. Basis of Presentation and General Information </U></P>
<P STYLE="margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman"><U>Segment Reporting, page 42 </U></P> <P STYLE="font-size:6pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt">&nbsp;</P>
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<TD WIDTH="4%" VALIGN="top" ALIGN="left"><B>1.</B></TD>
<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> <P STYLE=" margin-top:0pt ; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman; " ALIGN="left"><B>We have considered your May&nbsp;6, 2022, and June&nbsp;14, 2022, supplemental responses to our segment
comments and the information provided on our July&nbsp;21, 2022, call with you. Based upon the information provided, we object to your conclusion that you have only one operating segment. Also, it appears that your practices may represent your
operating segments. Please provide us with a revised analysis of your operating and reportable segments in accordance with ASC 280. To the extent you conclude that aggregation of any of your operating segments is appropriate, also provide us with a
detailed discussion of how you concluded each of the aggregation criteria were met. Refer to ASC <FONT STYLE="white-space:nowrap"><FONT STYLE="white-space:nowrap">280-10-</FONT></FONT> <FONT STYLE="white-space:nowrap">50-1,</FONT> <FONT
STYLE="white-space:nowrap">50-10</FONT> and <FONT STYLE="white-space:nowrap">50-11.</FONT> </B></P></TD></TR></TABLE>
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 <P STYLE="margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman"><U>Response</U> </P>
<P STYLE="margin-top:6pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">We acknowledge the Staff&#146;s comments. We refer to our previously shared responses dated May&nbsp;6, 2022, and June&nbsp;14, 2022, as well
as our call on July 21. We respectfully recognize your objection to our conclusion that the Company is one operating segment and as a result a single reportable segment. </P>
<P STYLE="margin-top:6pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">Based on our conversations to date, we continue to believe that our practices do not meet the requirements to be considered operating segments.
However, we also appreciate the need to clarify some of our previous comments to articulate this position. We have provided our analysis below, along with clarifications that we believe will articulate this position. </P>
<P STYLE="margin-top:6pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">Per our discussion with you previously, we want to highlight our assessment of practices as components within the guidance of ASC <FONT
STYLE="white-space:nowrap"><FONT STYLE="white-space:nowrap"><FONT STYLE="white-space:nowrap">280-10-50-1</FONT></FONT></FONT> in determination of our operating segments: </P>
<P STYLE="margin-top:6pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">An operating segment is a component </P>
<P STYLE="margin-top:6pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">1(a) &#150; <I>That engages in business activities from which it may earn revenues and incur expenses</I>&#151;our practices engage in business
activities through provision of services to our customers, earn revenues and incur expenses as we previously discussed with you. </P>
<P STYLE="margin-top:6pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">1(b)&#151;<I>Whose operating results are regularly reviewed by the enterprise&#146;s chief operating decision maker to make decisions about
resources to be allocated to the segment and assess its performance</I> &#150; as we will clarify further in this response, we note that our chief operating decision maker (&#147;CODM&#148;), Mr.&nbsp;Ted Fernandez, does not review the financial
information made available at the practice level to make practice specific resource or capital allocations that directly impact the performance of practices. </P>
<P STYLE="margin-top:6pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">1(c) &#150; <I>For which discrete financial information is available &#150; </I>discrete financial information is available and reported to our
CODM on a quarterly basis to evaluate consolidated results of the Company. </P> <P STYLE="margin-top:6pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">To articulate our views related to 1(b), we note that the CODM
makes decisions about the allocation of resources/capital that are specifically viewed as invested dollars based on where that investment will yield the highest return over a long period of time. The return is based on revenue growth and margin of
our primary marketed solutions which do not represent practices. </P> <P STYLE="margin-top:6pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">To further clarify our comment in our May&nbsp;6, letter that
<I>&#147;For <FONT STYLE="white-space:nowrap"><FONT STYLE="white-space:nowrap">go-to-market</FONT></FONT> and resource management purposes, the Company&#146;s consultants are grouped into various competency groups referred to as practices. Revenues
and operating expenses for each practice have similar characteristics and are subject to the same factors, pressures and challenges.</I>&#148; We would like to highlight that our goal as a company is to bring to market our most comprehensive and
differentiated offerings/solutions that incorporate the capabilities of many practices that leverage our unique benchmarking data and best practice insight. This allows us to address the client&#146;s request more efficiently and powerfully than
other consultancies and allow us to incorporate both our deep understanding of business process and technology or digital enablement. Our practices provide various interrelated or complementary competencies, which are frequently bundled together to
achieve this objective. While it is important for personnel management, personnel training, and efficiency of project delivery to group personnel in practices, our strategy to sell and deliver comprehensive differentiated solutions is not
practice-centric. As a result of this solution- centric approach to our <FONT STYLE="white-space:nowrap"><FONT STYLE="white-space:nowrap">go-to-market</FONT></FONT> strategy, our practices succeed or fail based on their level of collaboration with
other practices aligned around our primary market solutions. </P>
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 <P STYLE="margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">In this context, we further want to clarify our June&nbsp;14 letter comment that
<I>&#147;major operational and financial decisions are made by the CODM&#148;.</I> Our CODM&#146;s focus on allocation of resources, i.e., invested dollars, as noted above, is practice agnostic and is based on company-wide strategic activities such
as new solutions or offerings, significant sales related investments, technology investments, acquisitions, divestitures, and investment in our internal client service organization (e.g., human resource, information technology, legal, office
administration, executive and finance departments). These enterprise-wide allocation decisions are made based on overall company performance rather than the contribution of any given practice, as many of the investments made are intended to benefit
the total company. </P> <P STYLE="margin-top:6pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">Our practices are led by practice leaders who are responsible for decisions that impact the contribution of that team.
We want to clarify our June&nbsp;14 letter that <I>&#147;all key operating decisions are made at a practice level&#148;.</I> We want to highlight that our reference to &#147;<I>key operating decisions&#148;</I> refers to practice level day to day
activities that are operational in nature, such as: </P> <P STYLE="font-size:6pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt">&nbsp;</P>
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<TD WIDTH="10%">&nbsp;</TD>
<TD WIDTH="2%" VALIGN="top" ALIGN="left">&#149;</TD>
<TD WIDTH="1%" VALIGN="top">&nbsp;</TD>
<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> <P ALIGN="left" STYLE=" margin-top:0pt ; margin-bottom:0pt; font-family:Times New Roman; font-size:10pt">Development and training of consultants on Hackett IP and sales and delivery methods </P></TD></TR></TABLE>
<P STYLE="font-size:6pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt">&nbsp;</P>
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<TD WIDTH="10%">&nbsp;</TD>
<TD WIDTH="2%" VALIGN="top" ALIGN="left">&#149;</TD>
<TD WIDTH="1%" VALIGN="top">&nbsp;</TD>
<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> <P ALIGN="left" STYLE=" margin-top:0pt ; margin-bottom:0pt; font-family:Times New Roman; font-size:10pt">Deployment of personnel </P></TD></TR></TABLE>
<P STYLE="font-size:6pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt">&nbsp;</P>
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<TD WIDTH="10%">&nbsp;</TD>
<TD WIDTH="2%" VALIGN="top" ALIGN="left">&#149;</TD>
<TD WIDTH="1%" VALIGN="top">&nbsp;</TD>
<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> <P ALIGN="left" STYLE=" margin-top:0pt ; margin-bottom:0pt; font-family:Times New Roman; font-size:10pt">Leading engagement sales opportunities to fulfill revenue goals </P></TD></TR></TABLE>
<P STYLE="font-size:6pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt">&nbsp;</P>
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<TD WIDTH="10%">&nbsp;</TD>
<TD WIDTH="2%" VALIGN="top" ALIGN="left">&#149;</TD>
<TD WIDTH="1%" VALIGN="top">&nbsp;</TD>
<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> <P ALIGN="left" STYLE=" margin-top:0pt ; margin-bottom:0pt; font-family:Times New Roman; font-size:10pt">Managing utilization and margins </P></TD></TR></TABLE>
<P STYLE="font-size:6pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt">&nbsp;</P>
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<TD WIDTH="10%">&nbsp;</TD>
<TD WIDTH="2%" VALIGN="top" ALIGN="left">&#149;</TD>
<TD WIDTH="1%" VALIGN="top">&nbsp;</TD>
<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> <P ALIGN="left" STYLE=" margin-top:0pt ; margin-bottom:0pt; font-family:Times New Roman; font-size:10pt">Personnel performance evaluation, related hiring and firing decisions </P></TD></TR></TABLE>
<P STYLE="margin-top:6pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">These activities are practice specific and operational in nature and are not those strategic decisions that our CODM takes as described above.
Our practice leaders in conjunction with our COO, rather than our CODM, handle these operational activities and have the authority to make decisions over these activities without CODM approval. These activities do not result from strategic
resource/capital investment allocation decisions, and they focus on personnel deployment and performance, and are focused on client service and project execution. Our COO monitors practice performance to ensure that utilization goals, headcount, and
other progress to expected performance are on track. We believe these are daily management decisions and not considered strategic investment decisions which determine where the organization&#146;s capital and resources are allocated which are made
by our CODM. </P> <P STYLE="margin-top:6pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">To achieve these practice level operational objectives discussed above, practice leaders are involved in the annual plan and
forecasting process related to the practices over which they have oversight. The annual plan process includes consolidated company-wide goal setting led by CODM that starts with a consolidated outlook focusing on: </P>
<P STYLE="font-size:6pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt">&nbsp;</P>
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<TD WIDTH="10%">&nbsp;</TD>
<TD WIDTH="2%" VALIGN="top" ALIGN="left">&#149;</TD>
<TD WIDTH="1%" VALIGN="top">&nbsp;</TD>
<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> <P ALIGN="left" STYLE=" margin-top:0pt ; margin-bottom:0pt; font-family:Times New Roman; font-size:10pt">Fiscal year consolidated revenue growth </P></TD></TR></TABLE>
<P STYLE="font-size:6pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt">&nbsp;</P>
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<TD WIDTH="10%">&nbsp;</TD>
<TD WIDTH="2%" VALIGN="top" ALIGN="left">&#149;</TD>
<TD WIDTH="1%" VALIGN="top">&nbsp;</TD>
<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> <P ALIGN="left" STYLE=" margin-top:0pt ; margin-bottom:0pt; font-family:Times New Roman; font-size:10pt">Fiscal year EPS growth </P></TD></TR></TABLE>
<P STYLE="font-size:6pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt">&nbsp;</P>
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<TD WIDTH="10%">&nbsp;</TD>
<TD WIDTH="2%" VALIGN="top" ALIGN="left">&#149;</TD>
<TD WIDTH="1%" VALIGN="top">&nbsp;</TD>
<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> <P ALIGN="left" STYLE=" margin-top:0pt ; margin-bottom:0pt; font-family:Times New Roman; font-size:10pt">New solutions and offerings </P></TD></TR></TABLE>
<P STYLE="font-size:6pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt">&nbsp;</P>
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<TD WIDTH="10%">&nbsp;</TD>
<TD WIDTH="2%" VALIGN="top" ALIGN="left">&#149;</TD>
<TD WIDTH="1%" VALIGN="top">&nbsp;</TD>
<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> <P ALIGN="left" STYLE=" margin-top:0pt ; margin-bottom:0pt; font-family:Times New Roman; font-size:10pt">Investment dollars required to achieve consolidated goals (not specific to any individual practice)
</P></TD></TR></TABLE> <P STYLE="margin-top:6pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">Our CODM and our Board of Directors do not engage in practice specific discussions during the annual plan approval
process. Once the consolidated objectives are set and approved by CODM and Board of Directors, these objectives are then disseminated to practice leaders through the COO, who then determine execution strategies for their respective practice. </P>
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 <P STYLE="margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">Further, we highlight that the practice level financial results that are provided on a
quarterly basis to the CODM do not truly represent the complete practice performance. We note that personnel within each of the practices are commonly deployed to work on projects that are sourced, sold, and led by the other practices. Therefore,
the pursuit costs, which can be substantial, are borne by the lead practice, while the revenue associated with the individuals from other practices (e.g., hours x rate) flows back to the practice where the individual is assigned and is not reported
in the practice that secured the project. Furthermore, a practice that is utilizing cross deployed personnel may also experience results that otherwise don&#146;t accurately depict their performance. The organization highly encourages utilizing
personnel available in a practice over hiring additional personnel if the capability required is available within the organization. We do not allocate any of the sales pursuit costs internally between practices for cross deployed personnel, and thus
the practice revenue and gross margin as reported are distorted, which minimizes the value of the discrete practice level financial information provided to the CODM quarterly. Additionally, we do not communicate any practice specific performance or
forecast externally. </P> <P STYLE="margin-top:6pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">We understand that the Staff has placed emphasis on the financial information provided to the CODM with the
presumption that if information is included in the reporting package provided to the CODM, it must be used by the CODM to assess performance and allocate resources. We also understand that the Staff has stated that inclusion of discrete financial
information should not be the only factor considered in the operating segment analysis. Rather, the evaluation is dependent on both the availability and the use of this information. </P>
<P STYLE="margin-top:6pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">We believe that we have documented that while discrete practice level financial information is available, given the high interdependence to
their practices and company-wide initiatives, it is not used by our CODM to allocate resources and assess performance of practices, but rather to aid in the review of the overall consolidated results of the Company. As a result, we do not believe
that our practices meet all the requirements to be considered operating segments as defined with ASC 280. </P> <P STYLE="margin-top:6pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">However, we recognize your
objection to our historical conclusion and presentation of one operating segment and have reconsidered the guidance in ASC 280 in the context of your objection. While we continue to believe that management operates and assesses the Company&#146;s
performance as a single operating segment, we will revise our financial presentation prospectively to reorganize our segment determination to comply with ASC 280 and report the following three reportable segments: S&amp;BT, EEA and International.
The primary reason for the S&amp;BT grouping is based on the frequency with which the respective practice capabilities are bundled and sold together to respond to our client solution requests. For EEA, it is the similarity of technology related
skillsets of these practices. For International, it is due to the distinct requirements of the international regions. While International does not exceed the quantitative thresholds in ASC <FONT STYLE="white-space:nowrap"><FONT
STYLE="white-space:nowrap"><FONT STYLE="white-space:nowrap">280-10-50-12</FONT></FONT></FONT> for two of the three latest years presented, we have elected to present this as a separate reportable segment allowed by ASC
<FONT STYLE="white-space:nowrap"><FONT STYLE="white-space:nowrap"><FONT STYLE="white-space:nowrap">280-10-5-12.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P STYLE="margin-top:6pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">Beyond the practice inter dependencies or commonality of skills or offering within these service groups, other considerations such as overall
management structure, annual plan and forecast setting and basis for executive compensation were also considered in our evaluation. As previously discussed, they provide evidence that if the Company is believed to be managed and evaluated at other
than enterprise-wide level, these service groupings should be considered operating segments prospectively, rather than the practices. </P> <P STYLE="margin-top:6pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">To
effect the changes, starting in the fiscal third quarter of 2022, we will eliminate the practice level discrete financial information and provide the service grouping information (S&amp;BT, EEA and International) to our CODM, and we will include
appropriate segment disclosures required per ASC 280 for these three service groupings. Additionally, we will disclose all segment </P>
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information around the service groupings on a comparable basis in the third quarter of 2022 interim financial information as allowed by ASC <FONT STYLE="white-space:nowrap"><FONT
STYLE="white-space:nowrap"><FONT STYLE="white-space:nowrap">280-10-50-36.</FONT></FONT></FONT> While we understand there is judgement in this determination, we believe the investment community will have the information required to meet the
objectives of ASC 280. </P> <P STYLE="font-size:6pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt">&nbsp;</P>
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<TD WIDTH="4%" VALIGN="top" ALIGN="left"><B>2.</B></TD>
<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> <P STYLE=" margin-top:0pt ; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman; " ALIGN="left"><B>Your disclosure on page 37 indicates that goodwill has been assigned to your &#147;The Hackett Group&#148;
and &#147;Hackett Technology Solutions&#148; reporting units. Please tell us how the reconsideration of your operating segments referenced in our comment above changes your reporting units and explain how any change in reporting units impacts your
impairment analysis for each of the periods presented in your Form <FONT STYLE="white-space:nowrap">10-K.</FONT> Refer to ASC <FONT STYLE="white-space:nowrap">350-20.</FONT> </B></P></TD></TR></TABLE>
<P STYLE="margin-top:6pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman"><U>Response</U> </P> <P STYLE="margin-top:6pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">As noted to our
response in #1 above, we will prospectively present three reportable segments comprising of three operating segments and three reporting units: S&amp;BT, EEA and International. Per ASC
<FONT STYLE="white-space:nowrap"><FONT STYLE="white-space:nowrap"><FONT STYLE="white-space:nowrap">350-20-55-8,</FONT></FONT></FONT> we noted that components that share similar economic characteristics but relate to different operating segments may
not be combined into a single reporting unit. </P> <P STYLE="margin-top:6pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">Thus, while The Hackett Group reporting unit has been historically comprised of S&amp;BT and
International, we believe it is appropriate to separate the components that carry goodwill accordingly, which results in two reporting units, S&amp;BT and International. Hackett Technology Solutions historically and prospectively is comprised of
EEA.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </P> <P STYLE="margin-top:6pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">Based on the determination of three reporting units, we have concluded there was no impact to our impairment
analysis in any period presented. </P> <P STYLE="margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman" ALIGN="center">* * * </P> <P STYLE="margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">We
hope that the foregoing has been responsive to the Staff&#146;s comments. Should you have any questions relating to any of the foregoing, please direct such questions to the undersigned at (786) <FONT STYLE="white-space:nowrap">497-7820</FONT> or
rramirez@thehackettgroup.com. </P> <P STYLE="font-size:12pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt">&nbsp;</P><DIV ALIGN="right">
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<TD VALIGN="top"> <P STYLE=" margin-top:0pt ; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:1.00em; text-indent:-1.00em; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">Sincerely,</P></TD></TR>
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<TD VALIGN="top" STYLE="BORDER-BOTTOM:1px solid #000000"> <P STYLE=" margin-top:0pt ; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:1.00em; text-indent:-1.00em; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">/s/ Robert&nbsp;A.&nbsp;Ramirez</P></TD></TR>
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<TD VALIGN="top"> <P STYLE=" margin-top:0pt ; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:1.00em; text-indent:-1.00em; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">Robert A. Ramirez</P></TD></TR>
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<TD VALIGN="top"> <P STYLE=" margin-top:0pt ; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:1.00em; text-indent:-1.00em; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">Executive Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer</P></TD></TR>
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