Big 4 Accounting Firms

The Big 4 refers to the 4 largest accounting and auditing firms, including: Deloitte Touche
Tohmatsu Limited, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Ernst & Young (E&Y), Klynveld Peat
Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG). These firms also provide tax advising and management services,
as well as providing massive employment and development opportunities to accountants around
the world. The Big 4 used to be the Big 8, but many of the firms merged together to make 4
larger corporations. The Big 4 exists because the size of these 4 companies is many times larger
than the fifth largest firm.

1. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited,
also known as Deloitte, is the largest firm in the
entire world, with an average of $38.8 in revenue and
employing over 263,900 employees. The company
started out as three separate companies owned by
William Deloitte, Charles Haskins, Elijah Sells, and George Touche. These companies
eventually merged together to become Deloitte and Touche. Today the company is known
primarily as Deloitte LLP, and has four subsidiaries: Deloitte & Touche LLP, Deloitte
Consulting LLP, Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP and Deloitte Tax LLP. For the last
several years the company has been voted as one of the best employers to work for by Fortune
Magazine. They hire many new employees through universities that they have programs, and
they have one of the higher average salaries for beginning workers at $70,000. Deloitte has
continued to have growth in revenue. In 2018, the company reported a surprising $35.2 billion in
revenue, and they have continued to grow on average 7% the last couple of years.
In 2012 Deloitte expanded and built Deloitte University as a place to educate and train
their future employees, offering internships and training seminars. They hope that this will give
people greater opportunities and reach out to a broader spectrum of people. Since they have 4
subsidiaries, they offer a wide range of employment. If you wish to work at Deloitte you have
the option to work in categories such as consulting, financial advisory services, taxes, growth
enterprise, and many more.
2. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)
PwC is the second largest firm in the world, with
an average of $37.7 billion in revenue and more than 236,000
employees. The company began in London in 1849 and was
founded by Samuel Lowell Price. PwC started out small but has
grown over the years. They began by merging with Holyland and
Waterhouse, then there was a final merger in 1998 when Price
Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand merged to create one larger corporation,
PricewaterhouseCoopers. They shortened their name to PwC in 2010, but their legal name
remains PricewaterhouseCoopers. PwC also offers seminars and training programs. Unlike
Deloitte their programs are online, free, and available to the public. Just like Deloitte PwC has
continued to maintain a steady growth in revenue over the past 10 years. Pwc’s numbers are
fighting with Deloittes for the top spot. PwC offers a wide variety of services to their customers
including: Audit & Assurance, consulting, IFRS reporting, tax services, and others. This allows
current and future employees to find what their good at within the company and excel. PwC is
also considered one of the best large companies to work for, ranking #2 in Diversity Inc.
Magazine.

3. Ernst & Young (E&Y)

Ernst and Young comes in at the
third largest company in the world employing over
250,000 and making a revenue of over $31.4 billion.
The company was formed by the merger of Arthur
Young & company and Ernst & Ernst. The
companies merged in 1989 to form Ernst & Young,
long after the two had passed away. They offer and
wide variety of services such as insurance, taxes,
advisement, transactions, and many more. Because they offer such a wide range of services, they
are able to cater to a wide variety of current and future employees. E&Y continues to grow and
has recently seen a major jump in their revenue. This company is another great company to work
for continually rated in the top 5 in Diversity Inc. Magazine’s top 50 places to work. Having so
many areas of interest, anyone interested in an accounting job is sure to find a position that suits
their specialization. Just like Deloitte and PwC, Ernst and Young offers training programs both
online and on the job, but these programs are not open to the public.

4. Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG)

KPMG is the fourth largest accounting firm
in the world making $26.4 billion in revenue and
employing approximately 197,260 people. The corporation
was formed in 1911 when William Barclay Peat & co.
merged with Marwick Mitchell & Co. to form Peat
Marwick. Then in 1987, the firm merged with KMG to
form what is now known as KPMG. Although, their numbers are lower than the other firms, they
are still growing, merging, acquiring other firms, and taking on new partners. This company, like
the others, is also another great place to work, voted #23 by Diversity Inc. Magazine. KPMG
offers three main services including: audits, advisory services, and taxes. These three services
can be broken down into many sub-services, making KPMG just as valuable as the other three
firms. KPMG has a website that offers free webcasts, self-education, and other resources for
those who wish to learn online. In addition to these online tools, they also offer in person classes,
seminars, and symposiums.

Deloitte Revenue by Year PwC Revenue by Year

E&Y Revenue by Year KPMG Revenue by Year

Reflection
After researching the Big 4 accounting firms, I learned a lot of new information. I had never
heard of the Big 4, and once I started my research I only knew one of the companies. It is very
interesting to see that all of these companies are each very different but yet they have a lot of
things in common. As of right now, I don’t see myself working at a corporation this large. It
sounds like all of these companies are great places to work, but I think I would rather work
somewhere a little bit smaller. Through my research I learned that if you want to work for a
larger corporation like one of these 4, it is important to utilize the resources that they offer to
you. These corporations are only going to hire the best of the best, meaning you need to be
prepared and understand everything that they are about. It is so interesting to see that
corporations this large are rated as some of the best places to work for.