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Look, the Big 4 accounting firms are Huge!You already know that (the clue is in the name) . But what makes them so special?To start with the basics, the Big 4 is a name given to the world’s four largest professional services firms.The group is made up of PwC, Deloitte, EY and KPMG and professional services is a broad term for almost any specialist service provided between two businesses.Ok so there’s four of them. But why are they called “Big?”Well, their sheer size, reputation and worldwide reach means that they dominate the field.There are many other firms that provide similar services, but they are tiny in comparison.Just look at the Big 4 revenue figures below!Brief History :Let’s start by looking back to 1910. At that point in time there were eight large accountancy firms in the world. They were known (surprisingly) as the Big 8. They were:Arthur AndersenCoopers and LybrandErnst & WhinneyDeloitte Haskins & SellsPeat Marwick MitchellPrice WaterhouseTouche RossArthur YoungThis Big Eight firms were formed because many large UK and U.S. companies began doing business internationally, they needed to work with accounting firms with a global reach.It was a slow process getting to this point, where each of the slightly bigger firms partnered with or acquired many smaller local accounting firms, and this eventually lead to the Big Eight.Peat Marwick Mitchell officially began the ascent into the Big 4 when it completed one of the biggest mergers to date, joining forces with a then top 20 firm Klynveld Main Goerdeler to form KPMG (the first of the current Big 4 firms).**(allegedly named because nobody could remember Klynveld Peat Marwick Mitchell Main Goerdeler…).But that wasn’t the end of the story. Further expansion and competition led to the creation of :The Big Six Accounting FirmsAfter acquiring many smaller firms, the Big Eight realized the potential synergies that could be realized by merging with each other.In the summer of 1989, the Big Eight became the Big Sevenwhen Ernst & Whinney merged with Arthur Young to form Ernst & Young.Later that same year, Deloitte, Haskins & Sells merged with Touche Ross to form Deloitte & Touche, and complete the Big Six.The Big Six continued on for another decade before the next merger and the creation of the Big Five.This time Price Waterhouse merged with Coopers & Lybrand to form PricewaterhouseCoopers, better know as PwC.NOW COMES “THE BIG 4s”The Big Four as we know them today was completed with the collapse of Arthur Andersen in 2002 following the Enron Scandal.Though Arthur Andersen was later acquitted of wrongdoing, the scandal ultimately led to the collapse of the firm.Following a number of re-brands and smaller acquisitions, the Big 4 now officially consists of:DeloittePwCEYKPMGBIG 4s OPERATIONS :-It’s not only accounting!While accountancy still forms a large part of what these firms do today, over the years they have expanded into hundreds of different businesses and industries.It is no longer accurate to refer to them only as the Big 4 accountingfirms.While it’s true that the Big 4 do audit all but one of the Fortune 100 companies audit fees equal only around one third of their total revenues.So where does the other 66% of revenues come from?Let’s take a quick look at the services offered by Deloitte. Their website lists the following broad categoriesAs you can see, accounting really does only form a small (but still significant) part of what they do. Going further looking at what Deloitte offers under “Global Business Tax Services.”Seventeen different services comprising business tax alone! And whose betting that each of these services can’t be broken down even further? There’s hundreds of specialisms that you could work in.So the Big 4 are not really accounting firms, they are “professional service conglomerates”.BIG 4s ORGANISATION :-A little known and interesting quirk about the Big 4 firms is that they are not in facts “firms” at all.They are each a network of firms that agree to operate under the same name and general business terms.EY France is actually a completely separate entity to EY Singapore, which is completely separate again to EY South Africa.You might see each local firm being referred to as a member firm.BIG 4s WORK CULTUREThe Big 4 work hard. These are not 9-5 jobs. You will be expected to work long hours and may see some 70-80 hour weeks during busy season.The Big 4 firms all have a similar culture, primarily because they do the same work and employ the same types of candidates. This can cause some people to burn out and resent their jobs.Now let’s take a closer look at each of the BIG 4s :-DELOITTEDeloitte is the largest professional services firm in the world both by revenue and number of employees. Deloitte is also considered one of the top consulting firms in the world by revenue and market share.Deloitte is headquartered in New York, U.S., and is chaired by David Cruikshank.Deloitte’s revenues were the largest of the Big 4 in 2017 at $38.8 billion, an increase of 9.0% on the prior year.Deloitte is a true professional services firm and focuses less on audit than the other firms. Only 25% of its revenues relate to audit. On the flip side it’s consulting revenues were $14.3 billion in 2017, over a third of the total.Deloitte services more consumer and industrial products businesses than the rest of the Big 4.Deloitte’s audit practice is 40% smaller than PwC’s, which means that it has to concentrate on its other services. This is primarily consulting, which as noted above is its biggest service line.Deloitte was the only Big 4 firm to retain its full consulting capability following the Enron crisis. This turned out to be a very good decision!While audit is an annual process that requires long standing and deep client relationships that sometimes last for decades, consulting is more project based and oftentime new projects must be won and delivered each year.This is reflected in Deloitte’s culture which is the most entrepreneurial and fast movingwithin the Big 4.Deloitte also invests heavily in its people, including making huge investments in facilities likeDeloitte University.2. PRICE WATERHOUSE COOPER (PWC)PwC, is the second largest professional services firm in the world by revenue and third by number of employees.PwC is headquartered in London, U.K. and is chaired by Bob Moritz.PwC operates in 157 countries from over 700 locations. It employs 223,000 people, with a whopping58,081 people (more than a quarter of their workforce) joining in last year alone.That gives you some indication of the hiring potential of the Big 4!PwC’s revenues were $37.6 billion in 2017, an increase of 7% on the prior year. Most of this (76% to be exact) was earned in the U.S. and Western Europe.Unlike some of the other Big 4, PwC focuses more heavily on audit services. In fact almost 43% of its revenues were from audit related services. Advisory ($11.5 billion) and tax ($9.1 billion) make up the remainder.During 2017 PwC assisted 422 (84%) of the companies in the Fortune Global 500 list, and 410 (82%) of those in the U.S. Fortune 500 list.PwC are certainly the masters of the accounting world with the largest audit fees and biggest number of Fortune 100 audit clients. They focus a significant proportion of their business on this.PwC is renowned for being the more fastidious, older and slow moving organization.While they react relatively slower to changes in the business world than others within the Big 4 they have a very strong core of clients. This is a positive if you’re a detail oriented person who like the hierarchical nature of an organization.In summary, PwC is the classic Big 4 accounting firm, with lots of accountants doing accounting for some of the world’s biggest companies. They have less of a focus on consulting and entrepreneurial businesses.3. ERNST & YOUNG (EY)EY is the third largest of the Big 4.EY is headquartered in London, UK and is chaired by Mark Weinberger.EY earned revenues of $31.3 billion in 2017, an increase of 9.2% on the prior year. Like PwC, EY is very focused on audit, with over 39% of its revenues coming from its assurance service line.In addition to audit, EY also has the second largest tax practice after PwC.Despite lower revenues, EY employs more people (230,800) than PwC. They also increased their headcount by 9.2% in 2017.EY audits 23% of the Fortune 500 and provides some level of service to almost 80%. While still a network of individual firms, EY is the most globally managed of the Big 4. They retain a strict structure across the world with a Global board overseeing all policy and consistency of service.EY is in many ways a mini-PwC. They are a more traditional accounting firm than either Deloitte or KPMG. EY is highly focused on their core competencies of audit and tax (they have the second largest audit and tax practices after PwC).Like PwC, EY has significant long term relationships with many large clients. They pride themselves on the length of their relationships, some lasting more than 70 years.Another good point to remember about EY is that they structure their graduate hiring programs a bit differently too.New hires typically do rotational programs for 1-2 years in different specialisms.4. KPMGKPMG is the smallest of the Big 4 firms by both revenue and number of employees. Smallest is relative though as KPMG is still three times bigger than the number five accounting firm (BDO LLP).KPMG is headquartered in Amstelveen, the Netherlands and chaired by John Veihmeyer.KPMG has more than 700 offices in 152 countries and globally employs almost 189,000 people.KPMG earned global annual revenues of $26.4 billion in 2017, which was an increase of 8% over the prior year.Like EY and PwC, KPMG also has a large audit practice as a proportion of total revenues, coming in at almost 40%.KPMG also has the second largest advisory practice (at $10.18 billion in revenue) after PwC.KPMG is the smallest of the Big 4 but is typically considered the best in terms of work-life balance. What it lacks in prestige it makes up for in employee engagement.KPMG suits employees who value both their career and their personal lifeKPMG is somewhere between the old-school accounting firm (PwC) and the more high tech, agile consulting firm (Deloitte). While audit still form a substantial part of what they do, their assurance practice is growing rapidly.In all likelihood the Big 4 accounting firms are going to keep on growing. Their current growth levels of around 7% – 9% per year will continue as fees for existing projects increase and their service offerings expand.Thank You for reading!Content source -:GoogleWikipediaBusiness InsiderBIG 4’s websites.Thanks Again!!

Anand Rao, Joe Voyles and Pia Ramachandani of PwC’s Data and Analytics services identified ten AI trends for 2018:Most of these are machine learning approaches.See more at Top 10 AI technology trends for 2018PwC also published these more general, business impact-oriented AI predictions for 2018:See the details at Artificial intelligence (AI) Predictions.Thanks for the A2A, Sabrina Ali.

At first, I felt nothing at all. UCR definitely does have the reputation of being known as “UC Rejects,” “UC Ratchetside,” “UC Retards,” etc. You can ask anyone who goes to UCR if it was their first school of choice and 99% will say “definitely not!” When I got my acceptance, I brushed it off and didn’t think much of it.While I did get into other colleges, one of the biggest factors for me was wanting to experience SoCal. In honesty, there’s nothing to do in the Inland Empire, the 626 is 40 minutes from UCR, and LA could take up to 2 hours to get to. However, I am from Silicon Valley and I can proudly call UCR my home away from home. If you attend a tour or freshman orientation, you will notice how friendly and diverse the campus is. There are so many opportunities and resources available. I have friends who got corporate jobs with pWc, RSM, Deloitte, Apple, Amazon, Etc, while/after attending UCR. I don’t regret choosing UCR as my university at all. Hope this helps!