The Big Four, what every business school takes pride in. “The Big Four recruit here. The road dream job for any accountant starts here.” Every school prides themselves on prestige and having the Big Four recruit at their universities.KPMG, EY, PWC,and Deloitte are considered to be the Big Four that everyone speaks of. It wasn’t always this though and any person looking to have a career in accounting should consider other opportunities just as strongly.
The Big 4 originally used to be the Big 8. The eight consisted of Arthur Andersen, Coopers & Lybrand, Ernst & Whinney, Deloitte Haskins & Sells, Peat Marwick Mitchell, Price Waterhouse, Touche Ross and Arthur Young. Competition reduced eight to six as Ernst & Whinney and Arthur Young merged to form Ernst & Young (EY) while Deloitte Haskins & Sells and Touche Ross combined to created Deloitte & Touche in 1989. Almost ten years later in 1998 Price Waterhouse joined forces with Coopers & Lybrand to become PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) and reduce it to the Big Five. The Big Five became what we now know as The Big Four after Arthur Andersen was indicted for their role in the Enron scandal of 2001. These four firms audit 99 percent of the Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index. However there are so many more jobs in accounting than just auditing and I’m here to widen everyone’s horizons.
After the Big Four there are the “mid-sized firms” as they refer to themselves. These start at BDO International and Grant Thornton with dozens upon dozens of other firms following behind them. The cultures at these are considered more relaxed with better work atmospheres. At the same time the compensation is very competitive with the Big 4 and often give you better hands on experience than the Big 4 would give you. The Big 4 is a great place to start your career but the mid-sized firms are the ones where most people develop their careers.
The last category for accounting firms is the boutique categories. These are the accountants that are considered small business owners and deal more with individual accountants and other small businesses. I was first exposed to accounting through the boutique sized firms. My father is a partner in a boutique firm and loves what he does. The office is a lot more relaxed than mid-sized and the Big Four but the compensation is the smallest out of the three. The bosses are more understandable since it is such a small workplace and everyone in the office knows each other. Some people don’t like high pressure situations so this is ideal for those who succeed in such scenarios.
The world we live in today always has judgments. If you aren’t getting an internship offer from one of the Big Four as an accounting major many could consider it a disappointment. I’m here to tell you otherwise. Everyone is built differently. Everyone has different needs to fulfill. It would be great to get an offer there, but it isn’t the end of the world if you don’t. The Big Four have close to a 20% retention rate after the first two years of employment. Just because a school hypes it up so much doesn’t mean it’s the perfect fit. Keep your options open because you never know what will be the best one for you. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter what others say, you’re the one living with the decisions you made so do your due diligence and best of luck. The accounting world is a very competitive one you’re going to need it.
Andrew Mitgang 