These firms were Arthur Andersen; Coopers & Lybrand; Deloitte, Haskins & Sells; Ernst & Whinney, Peat Marwick Mitchell; Price Waterhouse; Touche Ross; and Arthur Young. A wave of major mergers in 1989 altered the landscape, reducing the group to the “Big 6.Finally, thanks to a series of mergers and acquisitions, they have been whittled down to the Big 4 Firms. CliftonLarsonAllen, or CLA, is an accounting network founded in 2012 after a merger of U.S.-based firms Clifton Gunderson LLP and LarsonAllen LLP.
The Finance Story
EY was playing catch-up with rivals Deloitte, which has offered marketing solutions through Deloitte Digital since 2012, and Accenture, which created Accenture Song in 2022. See three reasons why CISOs should collaborate more with CFOs, and learn three strategies for better finance-IT collaboration. Some of them have deadlines on when you have to pass the exam, while others strongly encourage your certification and hold your promotions until you actually get it. Through industry consolidation that began in 1989, what used to be the Big Eight is the Big Four in 2025.
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What are their strengths, and what kinds of career opportunities can you expect? In this article, we’ll break down the backgrounds, focus areas, and key differences between the Big 4. The Finance Story empowers finance professionals—CFOs, consultants, accountants, tax experts, and bankers—to navigate critical market shifts, industry disruptions, and emerging technologies & trends. In 1989 two sizable accounting & auditing firms Ernst & Whinney and Arthur Young & Co. merged, giving rise to the entity’s current shape. PwC is the second biggest professional services network in the world (second only to Deloitte). Much of this success was due to their recent acquisition of Monitor Group.
- Arthur Andersen, one of the Big 5 at the time, was dissolved in 2002 after its involvement in the scandal.
- Today, accounting firms solve complex problems for organizations of all sizes and industries in which they play a vital role in decision-making processes.
- These same firms continued to grow and develop in the era of income tax, which first began at the turn of the 20th century.
- Culture and values (3.8) and compensation (3.6) are also rated positively.
- Following its acquisition of the Monitor Group, Deloitte is recruiting talented professionals to bring fresh ideas and thought leadership to the firm.
- EY remains a key player in consulting and advisory services in India, supporting clients across various sectors.
With constant market shifts and changing regulations, business strategies often need a different approach – this is where leading accounting firms and consultants come into the picture. From advising founders and executives on billion-dollar moves to helping startups stay compliant, these firms play a major role in keeping businesses running smoothly. The Big 4 are the largest and most well-known firms in audit, tax, and consulting. For graduates, they offer great entry points into the business world – with global reach, structured career paths, and the chance to work across a wide range of industries and service lines. The Big 4 provides various services such as accounting, auditing, taxation, strategy, management consultation, valuations, market research, assurance, legal advisory, etc.
PwC is one of the largest and most well-known Big 4 firms, headquartered in London. Like the others, it covers audit, tax, and consulting services – with a particular focus on audit, where it ranks as big four accounting firms the global market leader. They recently acquired Monitor Group, a consulting firm, to allow them to better advise on critical issues such as sustainability and mergers & acquisitions. Advancing new technologies, and developing new types of services worldwide. Whether you’re looking to join the team or just get an idea of what’s out there in the tax job market, KPMG should be at the top of your list.
No. 47: Booth Management Consulting
As a young professional in a vibrant city on the precipice of great change, William Deloitte had the connections necessary to expand his business and firm. He oversaw the growth of the company, which grew to include more than 70 employees and became one of the most successful accounting firms in 19th-century London. Tax divisions assist multinational corporations and advisory & consulting teams provide expert guidance on everything from cybersecurity to risk management. An employee’s career path often begins in one service line, like audit, before potentially specializing or moving into a consulting role, making these firms powerful incubators of business talent.
Services Offered by the Big Four
PwC was born from a merger of Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand in 1998, but the merged firms were each founded in the mid-1800s. While PwC’s global revenue surpassed $50 billion for fiscal year 2022, its U.S. revenue also exceeded $18 billion, making it the second-largest accounting firm in the world and the U.S. by revenue. With revenue of $51.2 billion in FY2024, EY reported a nearly 4 percent growth compared to 2023.
Obviously, you will have to have an awesome resume and nail the interview, but you also need experiences and skills to back these things up. If you are still in college and want a Big Four Job, you should look at their internship opportunities. This organization remained unchanged until 1989 when the three partners merged with Touche Ross to form Deloitte and Touche. Later in 1993 the company renamed itself Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu because of yet another merger.
- Start by thinking about which area of work interests you most and what kind of work culture you thrive in.
- After they are fully trained and graduate college, they become full time team members.
- The most recent data available shows the Big Four constituted 99.7% of the S&P 500 market in 2022 and 100% of the Fortune 500 in 2025, dominating the audit fee market share.
- In 1845 William Deloitte formed Deloitte out of his London based office.
As you can see, PwC has maintained steady revenue growth for the past three years. All service sectors seem to be experiencing growth over the past few years, but assurance has grown the most. These hundred offices consist of large regional offices like a Chicago office and small to mid-sized offices in city outskirts and suburbs. All of the big four firms rank on the Fortune 100 best companies to work for lists every year. In 2024, PwC reported an annual revenue of $55.4 billion, the second-highest amount for Big Four firms. PwC also added 6,161 more jobs during the year, boosting its workforce to more than 370,000 in 149 countries.
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The company made a $1.5 billion investment in artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives and debuted its ChatPwC platform. Since the 1980s, numerous mergers and one major scandal involving Arthur Andersen, have reduced the number of major professional-services firms from eight to four. PwC works with large organizations as well as individuals to provide Assurance, Tax and Auditory services.
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With tax code becoming increasingly more complex, it is essential to have knowledgeable tax experts help you manage your tax filing and ensure that everything is done correctly and on time. Each firm has its unique structure and focus, all connected by shared services and accounting qualifications. Although each accounting firm is structured differently and offers different services, they are unified by their commitment to promoting integrity among accounting practices around the world. Deloitte, PwC, EY and KPMG also face competition from accounting firms who are not among the big four. They may be small, medium or large accounting firms possessing their own set of advantages that can make them a more suitable option for specific clients and situations.
Their tax and assurance service sectors have remained about the same year of year, but their advisory and consulting business keeps growing year after year. Although PwC did beat D&T’s gross revenue number in 2015, D&T does employ more professionals and has generated more revenues two out of the last three years. The path toward the company that exists today began in the early 1900s, when two aspiring accountants started firms at a similar time. In 1903, Alwin C. Ernst began an accounting firm with his brother in Cleveland, Ohio. Just three years later in 1906, Arthur Young started his firm, Arthur Young & Co., in nearby Chicago, Illinois. The two firms found themselves allied with British accounting firms within a few short decades, allowing them both to grow and prosper.