The oldest roots among the Big 4 accounting firms belong to KPMG, with its earliest parent company founded in 1818, followed closely by Deloitte (1845) and PwC (Price Waterhouse in 1849), while EY (Ernst & Young) formed later from mergers, though its components also trace back, with the KPMG lineage being the earliest foundation. KPMG's origins stem from a 19th-century firm, while Deloitte was established by William Welch Deloitte in London, and PwC came from Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand's mergers, making Deloitte the oldest single founder, but KPMG has the earliest overall ancestral firm.
The Big 4 accounting firms—Deloitte, EY, KPMG, and PwC—are often lumped together as "all the same." But for students (like you) considering careers, the differences matter.
BDO – $14 billion (BDO Accounting Firm Information) RSM $10 billion. Grant Thornton – $8 billion. Crowe $ 5.8 billion.
We all now know it as the big four, but actually it was the big 5. Arthur Andersen was once a symbol of excellence in the accounting profession, standing tall among the prestigious "Big Five" firms alongside PwC, Deloitte, EY, and KPMG.
The original Big Eight accounting firms, which dominated the industry before mergers reduced them to the current Big Four, were Arthur Andersen, Arthur Young, Coopers & Lybrand, Deloitte Haskins & Sells, Ernst & Whinney, Peat Marwick Mitchell, Price Waterhouse, and Touche Ross. These firms underwent significant consolidation and the collapse of Arthur Andersen (after the Enron scandal) to become the Big Four (Deloitte, PwC, EY, KPMG) by the early 2000s.
#3 Prestige & pay. In the industry, MBB are known to be the most prestigious and among the highest-paying firms. The Big 4 are less prestigious but still decently paid.
Of the Big 4, KPMG is the smallest and also the only one operating outside of London—the firm's headquarters is in Amstelveen, Netherlands.
The situation is worst at Big Four accounting firms. Almost three-quarters (71%) of survey takers who work for them said they feel their mental health suffers because of work pressures. Additionally, 51% of them said they've considered resigning from their job because of wellbeing issues.
The best overall Ernst & Young alternative is KPMG. Other similar apps like Ernst & Young are Deloitte Consulting, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Capgemini Services, and Coastal.
Making $500,000 a year is quite rare, placing you in roughly the top 1% (or slightly below, depending on data) of U.S. earners, with estimates suggesting only about 0.8% to 1% of individuals or households achieve this income, though government data can obscure this; it's a significant financial milestone, yet surprisingly, many high earners still feel financially stretched due to lifestyle inflation and high costs.
To be in the top 1% of US earners, you generally need an income well over $700,000 nationally, with figures around $794,000 cited for recent years, but this varies significantly by state, requiring over $1 million in places like Connecticut and Massachusetts, while being around $400,000-$450,000 in lower-cost states like West Virginia and Mississippi.
History of the Big 4 accounting firms
In the late 1990s, the Big 6 became the Big 5 when Price Waterhouse merged with Coopers and Lybrand to form PricewaterhouseCoopers (later stylised as PwC). Five became four in 2001 after the insolvency of Arthur Andersen due to the firm's involvement in the Enron scandal.
The Enron scandal was a series of events involving dubious accounting practices that resulted in the 2001 bankruptcy of the energy, commodities, and services company Enron Corporation and the subsequent dissolution of the accounting firm Arthur Andersen.
Blackstone Acquires Citrin Cooperman in Accounting Industry First. In a landmark move for the accounting industry, Blackstone acquired Citrin Cooperman from New Mountain Capital, marking the first major “flip” of a PE-owned accounting firm to another PE sponsor.