In the late 1990s, the Big 6 became the Big 5 when Price Waterhouse merged with Coopers and Lybrand to form PricewaterhouseCoopers (later stylized as PwC). Five became four in 2001 after the bankruptcy of Arthur Andersen due to the company's involvement in the Enron scandal. The Big Four is the nickname of the four largest accounting firms in the United States, measured by their revenues. These are Deloitte, Ernst & Young (EY), PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG).
How did the big 5 become the big 4?
In the late 1990s, the Big 6 became the Big 5 when Price Waterhouse merged with Coopers and Lybrand to form PricewaterhouseCoopers (later stylized as PwC). Five became four in 2001 after the bankruptcy of Arthur Andersen due to the company's involvement in the Enron scandal.
