The Big Four is the nickname of the four largest accounting firms in the United States, based on revenues. They are Deloitte, Ernst & Young (EY), PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG). Known as the “Big 4,” these firms completely dominate the industry and audit more than 80 percent of all public companies in the U.S. UU.
They are the four largest accounting firms by revenue. These are Deloitte, Ernst & Young (EY), PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG). Read more about each of them below. Although they are usually identified as individual companies, each of the 4 large accounting firms is actually a network of independent corporations that have concluded agreements with each other to establish quality standards and share a common name.
They hope to reach a wider spectrum of people looking to work in the industry. Because the company has 4 subsidiaries, they offer a wide range of employment opportunities. A prospective employee can work in categories such as consulting, financial advice services, taxes, growing companies, and more. However, there are more than 20 schools that offer the Deloitte accounting curriculum.
Deloitte and its subsidiaries have more than 600 offices in more than 150 countries. Includes offices in nearly every state in the U.S. USA, from California to Florida. Like Deloitte, PwC has maintained consistent revenue growth over the past 10 years.
In fact, PwC's raw numbers challenge Deloitte for first place. Their companies merged in 1989 to form Ernst & Young, long after both died. Both opened their original firms with their brothers and died a few days apart. Although they have continued to grow over the years and remain among the big four, this jump represented a positive respite from the slow growth rates of previous years and the decline in revenues.
With last year's uptick in growth and revenues, the future looks promising for Ernst, 26% of young people, and hopefully he will see better things to come. Last year, they dedicated themselves to mining and metals worldwide, which could generate the much sought after growth they expect and plan. Ernst & Young offers online and on-the-job training programs, however, classroom materials and resources are not available to the public. Like Deloitte & PwC, Ernst & Young organizes university recruitment events across the country every year, where they hire entry-level associates.
How to work for a company (4 big) KPMG is the last of the four big accounting firms, with more than 670 offices located in more than 150 countries. The firm was originally established in 1911 when William Barclay Peat & co. Merged with Marwick Mitchell & Co. In 1987, the firm merged with KMG to form what is now known as KPMG.
The firm changed its name several times over the years, but ultimately decided to stick with KPMG. The firm has been consistently voted one of the best places to work by DiversityInc magazine and currently ranks 23rd on the list. This means that it houses a very culturally diverse work environment and works with companies that are not yet as successful. Like the other three big accounting firms, KPMG does much of its hiring on university campuses, looking for the best and brightest to add to its 4 big firms.
Being an employee of one of the four big firms has a lot of weight in the industry and can offer you career opportunities that you couldn't find anywhere else. Below, we describe the 7 steps to becoming a Big Four accountant. Usually, the Big Four recruit from a group of well-known universities such as Notre Dame, BYU, University of Texas, etc. If you can afford these schools and have the qualifications and ability to move, we recommend that you follow this route.
Even the smallest of the big four is several times the size of the fifth largest company, and industry experts believe that it is unlikely that any existing company can match the size of the major companies. This is partly due to the fact that, until the late 1980s, the major accounting firms were known as the Big 8 and included companies such as Coopers & Lybrand, Ernst & Whinney, Deloitte Haskins & Sells, Arthur Andersen, Price Waterhouse and Touche Ross. In 1989, the Big 8 became the Big 6 after the merger of Ernst & Whinney with Arthur Young to form Ernst & Young, followed closely by the merger of Deloitte, Haskins & Sells with Touche Ross. In July 1998, Price Waterhouse merged with Coopers, & Lybrand, to form PricewaterhouseCoopers, further reducing the number of market leaders to five.
Large companies consider it a sign of prestige that their audits are carried out by a member of the Big Four, even though the cost of such a service may be significantly higher than what a smaller company doing exactly the same work would charge. This same notion of prestige also applies to everyone who works for the Big Four. Recent graduates seeking careers in the financial services industry face fierce competition for available places each year, knowing that spending time with one of the 4 big companies is equivalent to earning a degree from an Ivy League university and will put them on the fast track to success. .
