Answerthink Acquires Global Working Capital Management Leader REL Consultancy Group

Answerthink, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSR) today announced that it acquiredthe REL Consultancy Group, a global leader in generating cashimprovements from working capital and enterprise operations. REL'sofferings will be integrated into the service portfolio of The HackettGroup, a business process advisory firm and an Answerthink company.

The acquisition is expected to add approximately $35 million inannualized revenues to The Hackett Group and add approximately $0.04to $0.08 to pro forma earnings per share in 2006. Under the terms ofthe acquisition agreement, the total purchase price is expected to beapproximately $32 million. Additionally, the Company will incurapproximately $3 million in costs to exit REL lease obligations andfor related severance. At close, approximately $21.5 million will bepaid in cash and $2.7 million of restricted stock units will beissued. The remaining amounts due to sellers will be paid in Januaryand May of 2006. In conjunction with the acquisition, the Company alsoannounced that it plans to exit certain Answerthink lease facilitiesand incur other related expenses in order to further concentrate itspresence in Atlanta where The Hackett Group is based. These moves willresult in the Company recording a restructuring charge ofapproximately $4.5 to $6.5 million in the current quarter. Theacquisition is expected to add $2 million in revenue to the currentquarter and, excluding the restructuring charge, be neutral topro forma earnings per share.

REL is a UK-based advisory services organization that over thelast 30 years has developed the premier global brand in workingcapital management advisory services. REL has enabled clients in morethan 60 countries to free up over $25 billion through working capitaloptimization in the last 10 years alone. The REL capabilities willsignificantly expand Hackett's best practices intellectual capital inkey operational areas including supply chain. Additionally, withapproximately one-half of its revenues and associates located outsidethe U.S., REL significantly expands The Hackett Group's servicedelivery and sales channel capabilities globally by adding a presencein France, Italy, Spain, and Singapore and further expands theCompany's presence in the UK and German market places.

In conjunction with the acquisition, Hackett will be introducing anew Working Capital Executive Advisory Program that will offer clientsaccess to REL intellectual property and strategic insight throughexecutive-focused best practice research, peer interaction andon-demand advisor access to fully complement Hackett's existingmembership advisory offerings. The new Hackett Working CapitalExecutive Advisory Program will join Hackett's existing array ofWorld-Class Programs -- premium-value, membership-based programs thatoffer clients a tailored mix of benchmarking services, on-demandadvisor access, best practices research and peer learningopportunities.

"REL brings many strategic synergies to our organization," saidAnswerthink Chairman and CEO Ted A. Fernandez. "In addition to a verytalented group of associates, we are acquiring the leading globalbrand in working capital management, intellectual capital and datathat expands our repository of empirically based best practices beyondSG&A, and significantly expanding our global reach. This is anotherkey step in establishing The Hackett Group as the premier strategicadvisory firm in the world."

"In addition to its rich history in the credit-to-collection andprocure-to-pay areas, REL will significantly expand our intellectualcapital and capabilities in the supply chain area. Approximately 40%of REL's 2005 revenues have been focused on client initiatives in thedemand planning and inventory management areas covered through theirforecast-to-fulfill offerings."

According to REL CEO Steve Payne, "Across the Fortune 1000,Hackett has proven itself to be a powerful force for change, helpingthousands of companies improve the return on their SG&A spend. Ourcombined ability to assist a client to free cash flow through bothoperational gains and working capital improvements presents acompelling offer to executives seeking ways to create additionalfinancial resources. Hackett has clearly demonstrated their value tothe world's most successful CEOs and their functional executives.We're excited to be joining forces with The Hackett Group andAnswerthink, and believe our combined offerings will further enhanceour growth and our ability to help clients generate sustainableenterprise value."

At 8:45 A.M. ET on Wednesday, November 30, 2005, the seniormanagement of Answerthink and REL will host a conference call todiscuss the acquisition.

The number for the conference call is (877) 951-7311, (Passcode:Answerthink). For International callers, please dial toll free: France080-511-1419, Germany 0800-216-1604, Italy 800-906-410, TheNetherlands 0800-023-4478, Singapore 800-120-4055, Spain 800-099-269,United Kingdom 0800-018-0764, US International Toll (210) 795-0466.

Please dial in at least 5-10 minutes prior to start time. If youare unable to participate on the conference call, a rebroadcast willbe available beginning at 12:00 P.M. ET on Wednesday, November 30,2005 and will run through 12:00 P.M. ET on Wednesday, December 14,2005. To access the rebroadcast, please dial (866) 856-0206. ForInternational callers, please dial (203) 369-4993.

In addition, Answerthink will also be webcasting this conferencecall live through the StreetEvents.com service. To participate, simplyvisit http://www.answerthink.com approximately 10 minutes prior to thestart of the call and click on the conference call link provided. Anonline replay of the call will be available after 12:00 P.M. ET onWednesday, November 30, 2005 and will run through 12:00 P.M. ET onWednesday, December 14, 2005. To access the call, visithttp://www.answerthink.com or http://www.streetevents.com.

About Answerthink

Answerthink, Inc., http://www.answerthink.com, is a leadingbusiness and technology consulting firm that enables companies toachieve world-class business performance. By leveraging thecomprehensive database of The Hackett Group, Answerthink's businessand technology solutions help clients significantly improveperformance and maximize returns on technology investments.Answerthink's capabilities include benchmarking, businesstransformation, business applications, business intelligence, andoffshore application development and support. Founded in 1997,Answerthink has offices throughout the United States and in Europe andIndia.

About The Hackett Group

The Hackett Group, http://www.thehackettgroup.com, a businessprocess advisory firm and an Answerthink company, is a world leader inbest practice research, benchmarking and advisory services thatempower executives to achieve world-class enterprise performance. OnlyThe Hackett Group empirically defines world-class performance insales, general and administrative (SG&A) and supply chain activitieswith analysis gained through 3,300 benchmark studies over 13 years atnearly 2,000 of the world's leading companies.

The foundation of Hackett's benchmarks, transformation services,and membership-based advisory programs is our proprietary database ofHackett-CertifiedSM Practices. These approaches are proven tocorrelate with superior performance metrics. This unparalleledknowledge repository enables Hackett business advisors to providedata, advice, and strategic insight with a level of integrity andauthority available nowhere else. As of this writing, Hackett clientscomprise 96 percent of the Dow Jones Industrials, 77 percent of theFortune 100 and 92 percent of the Dow Jones Global Titans Index.

About REL

REL is a global leader in generating cash improvements fromworking capital and enterprise operations. Through improving cashflow, reducing costs and increasing service quality, REL enablesclients to liberate cash from balance sheets. For more than 30 years,REL's expertise and detailed implementation approach has released over$25 billion in cash for clients; creating the financial resources tofund acquisitions, new product development, accelerate growth andinvest in strategic activities that yield competitive advantage.Through our focused expertise in financial advisory services, wetarget a 10 times return on investment of any project. Our practical,collaborative approach enables REL's experienced advisors to moverapidly through diagnosis, analysis and design to the important taskof implementing improvements yielding both quick wins and sustainablefinancial benefits.

Hackett-Certified is a service mark of The Hackett Group.

This press release contains "forward looking statements" withinthe meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factorsthat may cause Answerthink's actual results, performance orachievements to be materially different from the results, performanceor achievements expressed or implied by the forward lookingstatements. Factors that impact such forward looking statementsinclude, among others, the ability of the products and servicesmentioned in this release to deliver the desired affect, our abilityto effectively integrate this acquisition into our operations, ourability to attract additional business, our ability to effectivelymarket and sell the Hackett Working Capital Executive Advisory Programand other new services, the timing of projects and the potential forcontract cancellations by our customers, changes in expectationsregarding the information technology industry, our ability to attractand retain skilled employees (including key REL employees), possiblechanges in collections of accounts receivable, risks of competition,price and margin trends, changes in general economic conditions andinterest rates as well as other risks detailed in the Company's AnnualReport on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2004 filedwith the Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake noobligation to update or revise publicly any forward-lookingstatements, whether as a result of new information, future events orotherwise.