Big Four auditors
Encyclopedia
The Big Four are the four largest international professional services networks
Professional services networks
Professional services networks are networks of independent firms who come together to cost-effectively provide services to clients through an organized framework. They are principally found in law and accounting. They may also be found in investment banking, insurance, real estate and architectural...

 in accountancy
Accountancy
Accountancy is the process of communicating financial information about a business entity to users such as shareholders and managers. The communication is generally in the form of financial statements that show in money terms the economic resources under the control of management; the art lies in...

 and professional services
Professional services
Professional services is an industry of infrequent, technical, or unique functions performed by independent contractors or by consultants whose occupation is the rendering of such services....

, which handle the vast majority of audits
Financial audit
A financial audit, or more accurately, an audit of financial statements, is the verification of the financial statements of a legal entity, with a view to express an audit opinion...

 for publicly traded companies
Public company
This is not the same as a Government-owned corporation.A public company or publicly traded company is a limited liability company that offers its securities for sale to the general public, typically through a stock exchange, or through market makers operating in over the counter markets...

 as well as many private companies, creating an oligopoly
Oligopoly
An oligopoly is a market form in which a market or industry is dominated by a small number of sellers . The word is derived, by analogy with "monopoly", from the Greek ὀλίγοι "few" + πόλειν "to sell". Because there are few sellers, each oligopolist is likely to be aware of the actions of the others...

 in auditing large companies. The Big Four firms are shown below, with their latest publicly available data:
Firm Revenues Employees Fiscal Year Headquarters Source
PwC
PwC
PricewaterhouseCoopers is a global professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest professional services firm measured by revenues and one of the "Big Four" accountancy firms....

 (officially PricewaterhouseCoopers)
$29.2bn 169,000 2011  United Kingdom
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited , commonly referred to as Deloitte, is one of the Big Four accountancy firms along with PricewaterhouseCoopers , Ernst & Young, and KPMG....

$28.8bn 182,000 2011  United States
Ernst & Young
Ernst & Young
Ernst & Young is one of the largest professional services networks in the world and one of the "Big Four" accountancy firms, along with Deloitte, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers ....

$22.9bn 152,000 2011  United Kingdom
KPMG
KPMG
KPMG is one of the largest professional services networks in the world and one of the Big Four auditors, along with Deloitte, Ernst & Young and PwC. Its global headquarters is located in Amstelveen, Netherlands....

$22.7bn 138,000 2011  Netherlands


This group was once known as the "Big Eight", and was reduced to the "Big Five" by a series of mergers. The Big Five became the Big Four after the demise of Arthur Andersen
Arthur Andersen
Arthur Andersen LLP, based in Chicago, was once one of the "Big Five" accounting firms among PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Ernst & Young and KPMG, providing auditing, tax, and consulting services to large corporations...

 in 2002, following its involvement in the Enron scandal
Enron scandal
The Enron scandal, revealed in October 2001, eventually led to the bankruptcy of the Enron Corporation, an American energy company based in Houston, Texas, and the dissolution of Arthur Andersen, which was one of the five largest audit and accountancy partnerships in the world...

.

Legal structure

None of the Big Four accounting firms is a single firm - rather, they are accounting networks
Accounting networks and associations
Accounting networks and associations are professional services networks whose principal purpose is to provide members resources to assist the clients around the world. The networks and associations operate independently of the independent members. The largest accounting networks are known as the...

. Each is a network of firms, owned and managed independently, which have entered into agreements with other member firms in the network to share a common name, brand and quality standards. Each network has established an entity to co-ordinate the activities of the network. In one case (KPMG), the co-ordinating entity is Swiss, and in three cases (Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young) the co-ordinating entity is a UK limited company
Limited company
A limited company is a company in which the liability of the members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by shares or by guarantee. And the former of these, a limited company limited by shares, may be...

. Those entities do not themselves practice accountancy, and do not own or control the member firms. They are similar to law firm networks found in the legal profession.

In many cases each member firm practises in a single country, and is structured to comply with the regulatory environment in that country. In 2007 KPMG announced a merger of four member firms (in the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein) to form a single firm.

Ernst & Young also includes separate legal entities which manage three of its four areas: Americas, EMEIA (Europe, The Middle East, India and Africa), and Asia-Pacific. (Note: the Japan area does not have a separate area management entity). These firms coordinate services performed by local firms within their respective areas but do not perform services or hold ownership in the local entities.

The figures in this article refer to the combined revenues of each network of firms.

Mergers and the Big Auditors

Since 1989, mergers and one major scandal involving Arthur Andersen have reduced the number of major accountancy firms from eight to four.

Big 8 (until 1987)

The firms were called the Big 8 for most of the 20th century, reflecting the international dominance of the eight largest accountancy firms:
  1. Arthur Andersen
    Arthur Andersen
    Arthur Andersen LLP, based in Chicago, was once one of the "Big Five" accounting firms among PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Ernst & Young and KPMG, providing auditing, tax, and consulting services to large corporations...

  2. Arthur Young & Co.
  3. Coopers & Lybrand (until 1973 Cooper Brothers in the UK and Lybrand, Ross Bros., & Montgomery in the US)
  4. Ernst & Whinney
    Ernst & Young
    Ernst & Young is one of the largest professional services networks in the world and one of the "Big Four" accountancy firms, along with Deloitte, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers ....

     (until 1979 Ernst & Ernst in the US and Whinney Murray in the UK)
  5. Deloitte Haskins & Sells
    Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
    Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited , commonly referred to as Deloitte, is one of the Big Four accountancy firms along with PricewaterhouseCoopers , Ernst & Young, and KPMG....

     (until 1978 Haskins & Sells in the US and Deloitte & Co. in the UK)
  6. Peat Marwick Mitchell
    KPMG
    KPMG is one of the largest professional services networks in the world and one of the Big Four auditors, along with Deloitte, Ernst & Young and PwC. Its global headquarters is located in Amstelveen, Netherlands....

     (later Peat Marwick, then KPMG)
  7. Price Waterhouse
  8. Touche Ross


Most of the Big 8 originated in alliances formed between British and US accountancy firms in the 19th or early 20th centuries. Price Waterhouse was a UK firm which opened a US office in 1890 and subsequently established a separate US partnership. The UK and US Peat Marwick Mitchell firms adopted a common name in 1925. Other firms used separate names for domestic business, and did not adopt common names until much later: Touche Ross in 1960, Arthur Young (at first Arthur Young, McLelland Moores) in 1968, Coopers & Lybrand in 1973, Deloitte Haskins & Sells in 1978 and Ernst & Whinney in 1979.

The firms' initial international expansion was driven by the needs of British and US based multinationals
Multinational corporation
A multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...

 for worldwide service. They expanded by forming local partnerships or by forming alliances with local firms.

Arthur Andersen had a different history. The firm originated in the United States, and expanded internationally by establishing its own offices in other markets, including the United Kingdom.

In the 1980s the Big 8, each now with global branding, adopted modern marketing and grew rapidly. They merged with many smaller firms. One of the largest of these mergers was in 1987, when Peat Marwick merged with the KMG Group to become KPMG Peat Marwick, later known simply as KPMG.

Big 6 (1989-1998)

Competition among these public accountancy firms intensified and the Big 8 became the Big 6 in 1989 when Ernst & Whinney merged with Arthur Young to form Ernst & Young
Ernst & Young
Ernst & Young is one of the largest professional services networks in the world and one of the "Big Four" accountancy firms, along with Deloitte, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers ....

 in June, and Deloitte, Haskins & Sells merged with Touche Ross to form Deloitte & Touche in August.

Confusingly, in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 the local firm of Deloitte, Haskins & Sells merged instead with Coopers & Lybrand. For some years after the merger, the merged firm was called Coopers & Lybrand Deloitte and the local firm of Touche Ross kept its original name. In the mid 1990s however, both UK firms changed their names to match those of their respective international organizations. On the other hand, in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 the local firm of Touche Ross merged instead with KPMG. It is for these reasons that the Deloitte & Touche international organization was known as DRT International (later DTT International), to avoid use of names which would have been ambiguous (as well as contested) in certain markets.

Big 5 (1998-2001)

The Big 6 became the Big 5 in July 1998 when Price Waterhouse merged with Coopers & Lybrand to form PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers is a global professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest professional services firm measured by revenues and one of the "Big Four" accountancy firms....

.

Big 4 (2002-)

The Enron
Enron
Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. Before its bankruptcy on December 2, 2001, Enron employed approximately 22,000 staff and was one of the world's leading electricity, natural gas, communications, and pulp and paper companies, with...

 collapse and ensuing investigation prompted scrutiny of their financial reporting, which was audited by Arthur Andersen
Arthur Andersen
Arthur Andersen LLP, based in Chicago, was once one of the "Big Five" accounting firms among PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Ernst & Young and KPMG, providing auditing, tax, and consulting services to large corporations...

, which eventually was indicted for obstruction of justice for shredding documents related to the audit in the 2001 Enron scandal
Timeline of the Enron scandal
-1985:Kenneth Lay seized control in 1985 of HNG/Internorth created by the merger of Houston Natural Gas and the much larger and more diversified InterNorth, which combined four natural gas pipeline companies, Northern Natural Gas, Transwestern Pipeline, Florida Gas Transmission, and Houston...

. The resulting conviction, since overturned, still effectively meant the end for Arthur Andersen. Most of its country practices around the world have been sold to members of what is now the Big Four, notably Ernst & Young
Ernst & Young
Ernst & Young is one of the largest professional services networks in the world and one of the "Big Four" accountancy firms, along with Deloitte, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers ....

 globally, Deloitte & Touche in the UK, Canada and Brazil, and PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers is a global professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest professional services firm measured by revenues and one of the "Big Four" accountancy firms....

(now known as PwC
PwC
PricewaterhouseCoopers is a global professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest professional services firm measured by revenues and one of the "Big Four" accountancy firms....

) in China and Hong Kong.

The Big 4 are sometimes referred to as the "Final Four" due to the widely held perception that competition regulators are unlikely to allow further concentration of the accounting industry and that other firms will never be able to compete with the Big 4 for top-end work, as there is a market perception that they are not credible as auditors or advisors to the largest corporations.

2002 saw the passage of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act into law, providing strict compliance rules to both businesses and their auditors.

In 2010 Deloitte with its 1.8% growth was able to beat PricewaterhouseCoopers with its 1.5% growth to gain first place and become the largest accounting firm in the industry.
In 2011, PwC re-gained the first place with 8% growth.

Mergers and developments

  • (2001) Arthur Andersen
    • Developed from Andersen, Delany

  • Ernst & Young (1989)
    • Arthur Young (1968)
    • Ernst & Whinney (1979)
      • Ernst & Ernst (US)
      • Whinney Murray (UK)
      • Whinney, Smith & Whinney

  • PwC (2010)
    • PricewaterhouseCoopers (1998)
      • Coopers & Lybrand (1973)
        • Cooper Brothers (UK)
        • Lybrand, Ross Bros, Montgomery (US)
      • Price Waterhouse

  • Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
    • Deloitte & Touche (1989)
      • Deloitte Haskins & Sells (1978)
        • Deloitte & Co. (UK)
        • Haskins & Sells (US)
      • Touche Ross (1960)
        • Touche, Ross, Bailey & Smart
          • Ross, Touche (Canada)
          • George A. Touche (UK)
          • Touche, Niven, Bailey & Smart (US)
            • Touche Niven
            • Bailey
            • A. R. Smart
    • Tohmatsu & Co. (Japan)

  • KPMG (1987)
    • Peat Marwick Mitchell (1925)
      • William Barclay Peat (UK)
      • Marwick Mitchell (US)
    • KMG
      • Klynveld Main Goerdeler
        • Klynveld Kraayenhof (Netherlands)
        • Thomson McLintock (UK)
        • Main Lafrentz (US)
      • Deutsche Treuhand Gesellschaft (Germany)


A year at the end indicates year of formation through merger or adoption of single brand name.
A year in the beginning indicates date of closure of functioning or going out of prominence.

Policy issues concerning industry concentration

In the wake of industry concentration and individual firm failure, the issue of a credible alternative industry structure has been raised. The limiting factor on the growth of additional firms is that although some of the firms in the next tier have become quite substantial, and have formed international networks, effectively all very large public companies insist on having a "Big Four" audit, so the smaller firms have no way to grow into the top end of the market.

Documents published in June 2010 show that some UK companies' banking covenants
Contractual term
A contractual term is "Any provision forming part of a contract" Each term gives rise to a contractual obligation, breach of which can give rise to litigation. Not all terms are stated expressly and some terms carry less legal gravity as they are peripheral to the objectives of the...

 require them to use one of the Big Four. This approach from the lender prevents accounting firms in the next tier from competing for audit work for such companies. The British Bankers' Association
British Bankers' Association
The British Bankers’ Association is the trade association which represents the banks operating within the United Kingdom.-History:It was set up in 1919. In 1972 it accepted foreign banks...

 said that such clauses are rare. Current discussions in the UK consider outlawing such clauses.

In 2011,The UK House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....

 completed an inquiry into the financial crisis, and called for an Office of Fair Trading
Office of Fair Trading
The Office of Fair Trading is a not-for-profit and non-ministerial government department of the United Kingdom, established by the Fair Trading Act 1973, which enforces both consumer protection and competition law, acting as the UK's economic regulator...

 investigation into the dominance of the Big Four. It is reported that the Big Four audit all but one of the companies that constitute the FTSE 100, and 240 of the companies in the FTSE 250, an index of the leading mid-cap listing companies.

In Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, the Director of Corporate Enforcement, in February 2011 said, auditors "report surprisingly few types of company law offences to us", with the so-called "big four" auditing firms reporting the least often to his office, at just 5pc of all reports.

Global member firms

Country Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu PwC Ernst & Young KPMG
Argentina Deloitte & Co. S.R.L PricewaterhouseCoopers Ernst & Young Sibille
Bangladesh Hoda Vasi Chowdhury & Co. A. Qasem & Co. (AQC) S. F. Ahmed & Co. Rahman Rahman Huq
Brazil Deloitte PwC Ernst & Young Terco KPMG
China DTT Hua Yong PricewaterhouseCoopers Zhong Tian Ernst & Young Hua Min KPMG Hua Zhen
Egypt Kamel Saleh Mansour & Co.   Hazem Hassan
India Deloitte Haskins & Sells, A.F Ferguson, P C Hansotia, C C Chokshi & Co, S.B. Billimoria, Fraser & Ross and Touche Ross & co Price Waterhouse, Price Waterhouse & Co., Lovelock & Lewes and Dalal & Shah S.R.Batliboi & Co., S.R.Batliboi & Associates, S.V.Ghatalia & Associates BSR & Co
Indonesia KAP Osman Bing Satrio KAP Tanudiredja, Wibisana & Rekan KAP Purwantono, Sarwoko & Sandjaja KAP Siddharta dan Widjaja
Israel Deloitte Brightman Almagor Zohar Kesselman & Kesselman, PwC Israel Kost, Forer, Gabbay & Kasierer (Ernst & Young Israel) KPMG Somekh Chaikin
Japan Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
Kansa Houjin Tohmatsu
PricewaterhouseCoopers Aarata
Aarata Kansa Houjin
Ernst & Young ShinNihon LLC
ShinNihon Yugen-sekinin Kansa Houjin
KPMG AZSA LLC (formerly KPMG AZSA & Co.)
Azsa Kansa Houjin
Jordan Deloitte Touche(M.E) PwC Ernst & Young KPMG
Lebanon Deloitte Touche(M.E) PwC Ernst & Young  
Malaysia Deloitte KassimChan PricewaterhouseCoopers Ernst & Young KPMG
Mexico Galaz, Yamazaki, Ruiz Urquiza, S.C. PricewaterhouseCoopers México Ernst & Young KPMG Cárdenas Dosal, S.C.
Morocco Deloitte Touche(M.E) PwC Ernst & Young KPMG
Nigeria Akintola Williams Deloitte PwC Nigeria Ernst & Young KPS
Pakistan M. Yousuf Adil Saleem & Co. A. F. Ferguson & Co. Ernst & Young Ford Rhodes Sidat Hyder KPMG Taseer Hadi & Co.
Philippines Manabat Delgado Amper & Co. Isla Lipana & Co. Sycip Gorres Velayo & Co. Manabat Sanagustin & Co.
Saudi Arabia Deloitte & Touche Bakr Abulkhair & Co PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Ernst & Young Saudi Arabia KPMG Al Fozan & Al Sadhan
South Africa Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu PWC Ernst & Young KPMG
South Korea Anjin LLC Samil LLC Hanyoung LLC Samjong LLC
Sri Lanka   PwC Ernst & Young KPMG
Sweden Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Öhrlings PricewaterhouseCoopers   KPMG
Syria Deloitte(M.E)- Nassir Tamimi Chartered Accountant Pricewaterhousecoopers Abdul Kader Hussarieh and partners Mejanni & Co. Charted Accountants and Consultants LLC
Turkey DRT Bagimsiz Denetim ve S.M.M. A.S. Basaran Nas Bagimsiz Denetim ve SMMM A.S. Güney Bagimsiz Denetim ve S.M.M. A.S. Akis Bagimsiz Denetim ve S.M.M. A.S.
Uzbekistan. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu ASC PricewaterhouseCoopers Evan Young

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