Measured by revenue, the Big Four global accounting firms include Deloitte, Ernst & Young (EY), PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), and Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG). The companies provide auditing services, tax, strategy and management consulting, valuation,market research, assurance, and legal advisory services. All four are leading sources of tax law interpretation and accounting and auditing standards.
Key Takeaways
The "Big Four" refers to the four largest accounting firms in the U.S.
Four firms audit the financial statements of the majority of publicly held companies.
The Big Four provide auditing, tax, consulting, valuation, market research, assurance, and legal advisory services.
Deloitte
The largest of the Big Four, Deloitte's workforce grew to over 457,000 employees during their 2023 fiscal year. The company's annual revenue was $64.9 billion. Deloitte operates in 150 countries and ranked the sixth-best workplace in 2023.
PwC
In 2023, PwC reported an annual revenue of $53.1 billion, the second-highest amount for Big Four firms. PwC also added 36,000 more jobs during the year, boosting its workforce to more than 364,000 in 152 countries.The company made a $3.7 billion investment in talent and business acquisitions to grow its expertise in cloud and technology consulting and scale its artificial intelligence capabilities.
For FY 2023, Ernst & Young reported roughly $49.9 billion of company-wide revenue. The company rolled out an artificial intelligence platform and an AI assistant with a language model capable of conversing with users to assist with creating ideas and research in 2023. The firm operates in 150 countries.
KPMG
In 2023, KPMG reported the equivalent of $36 billion of revenue with strong growth across multiple divisions. KPMG employs over 273,000 individuals globally, has an office in every state across the U.S., and operates in 143 countries.
2023 Annual Revenue in U.S. Dollars
# of Employees
# of Countries of Operation/Headquarters
Deloitte
$64.9 billion
457,000
150/London, UK
PwC
$53.1 billion
364,000
152/New York City, U.S.
EY
$49.9 billion
395,442
150/London, UK
KPMG
$36 billion
273,000
143/Amstelveen, Netherlands
History of the Big Four
Through industry consolidation that began in 1989, what used to be the Big Eight is the Big Four in 2024. The original eight, based in the U.S. or the U.K., included Arthur Andersen, Arthur Young, Coopers & Lybrand, Deloitte Haskin & Sells, Ernst & Whinney, Peat Marwick Mitchell, Price Waterhouse, and Touche Ross.
Arthur Young combined with Ernst & Whinney, while Deloitte Haskin & Sells merged with Touche Ross. Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand merged their practices. Following the collapse of Arthur Andersen, due to its proven culpability in theEnron scandal, the five became four.The Big Four performs most of the auditing work for some of the largest public companies.
In 2022, the Big Four constituted 99.7% of the S&P 500 market, dominating the audit fee market share.PwC led with 35.7%, according to data compiled by Ideagen.
In 2002, "Big Eight" firm Arthur Andersen was discovered to have shredded documentation in an effort to hide Enron's falsified financial numbers. One of the largest and most reputable firms at the time, it ultimately collapsed due to the scandal.
Big 4 Salaries
Deloitte
PwC
EY
KPMG
Tax Analyst
$72,176
$74,041
$50,242
$76,509
Accountant
$70,691
$62,737
$85,478
$80,896
Certified Public Accountant
$88,300
$90,380
$80,641
$84,066
Auditor
$76,637
$77,573
$74,117
$67,216
Business Analyst
$84,836
$68,049
$64,295
$40,431
Cybersecurity/IT Analyst
$94,077
$96,000
$88,172
$114,678
What Services Do Big Four Companies Provide?
Big Four firms provide audit, assurance, consulting, financial advisory, risk management, and tax compliance services. Each firm also assists with mergers, acquisitions, corporate restructurings, and forensic accounting.
What Is Busy Season Like at a Big Four Company?
The busy season typically means long hours of auditing or tax compliance work to meet reporting deadlines. Big Four employees often work long hours during the busy season, sometimes doubling the hours worked during the off-season. The busy season typically begins at the start of the calendar year with tax reports and returns due between January and April. Big Four firms are also busy during periods when companies report quarterly or yearly earnings.
What Is the Difference Between an Accountant and a CPA?
An accountant is a professional with a bachelor’s degree in accounting. A CPA, or Certified Public Accountant, is a professional who has earned a CPA license through education, experience, and examination.
The Bottom Line
The "Big 4" refers to the four largest accounting firms and includes Deloitte, PwC, KPMG, and EY. All four companies provide audit, assurance, consulting, financial advisory, risk management, and tax compliance services.
They are the four largest accounting firms by revenue. They are Deloitte, Ernst & Young (EY), PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), and Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG), read more about each below. In addition, these mammoth organizations advise on tax and offer a wide range of management and assurance services.
Measured by revenue, the Big Four global accounting firms include Deloitte, Ernst & Young (EY), PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), and Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG). The companies provide auditing services, tax, strategy and management consulting, valuation, market research, assurance, and legal advisory services.
PwC is the largest by revenue and the most prestigious of the Big Four with a strong and established audit client base. Deloitte is just a fraction smaller than PwC. It gets significantly less of its revenue from audit services and more from consulting.
EY is the second biggest of the Big Four in terms of headcount, which lends credence to this claim in 2019 that their acceptance rate was approximately 3.5%, based on 69,000 global hires from 2,000,000 global applicants.
Whether you joined a Big 4 as a springboard for your career or were set on making partner, we generally advise professionals to make a move around three to six years of experience, in order not to leave either too early or too far into their Big 4 career.
Which big 4 accounting firm pays the most? Well it depends on which practice you want to go into. If you want to make the most money in consulting, Deloitte pays the best.However if you want to make the most money in auditing or tax PwC is likely your best bet.
Deloitte is known for recruiting the best people in the industry. The Deloitte job application process is challenging, and it requires good credentials, extensive work experience, and a series of interviews. Even after the interview, you will still compete against several other applicants.
We would, however, say that the minimum GPA required is 3.0. But if you find that yours is a bit lower than that, just work on your GPA for grad school, gain work experience, or take on leadership roles during your academic career. These are called compensating factors.
Big 4 accounting firms come with a high price tag due to their quality assurance, methodology, and large headcount. The brand name and reputation come with a higher cost, and the cost of audit services can vary depending on your unique needs.
The firm collapsed by mid-2002, as details of its questionable accounting practices for energy company Enron and telecommunications company WorldCom were revealed amid the two high-profile bankruptcies. The scandals were a factor in the enactment of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002. U.S.
Big Four refers to the top four accounting firms globally that audit more than 80% of US public companies, including Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, and Ernst & Young. For these accounting firms, this term is used because of its huge size, good reputation, and worldwide reach in the field.
In general, PwC and Deloitte are considered the most prestigious of the Big 4. If you ask most people about prestige, they'll probably rank PwC/Deloitte > EY > KPMG. This is reflected in pricing, for example. Big 4 will compete with each other on pricing.
To help our clients build trust and deliver sustained outcomes, PwC provides professional services across Audit and Assurance, Advisory and Tax. We bring a range of capabilities to help organizations solve faster, solve more and realize more value.
KPMG professionals leverage the power of evolving technologies with the aim of driving quality audits and assurance, and delivering fresh insights, helping to reshape the audit process and inspiring trust in data and financial information.
However, it can be a real challenge when pursuing a career with these major accounting firms—the level of competition you'll face is fierce. There are hundreds of thousands of people working for each of these firms, and each year, they face more applicants than they can reasonably handle.
Introduction: My name is Stevie Stamm, I am a colorful, sparkling, splendid, vast, open, hilarious, tender person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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