International Auditing Organizations – Big Four

Made byYuriy Stakh

Big Four 1. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu

2. PwC

3. Ernst & Young

4. KPMG

The Big Four are the four largest international accountancy and professional services firms, which handle the vast majority of audits for publicly traded companies as well as many private companies, creating an oligopoly in auditing large companies.

History of Big Four

Big Four was once known as the "Big Eight“ (until 1987), and was reduced to the "Big Five" by a series of mergers (1998). The Big Five became the Big Four after the demise of Arthur Andersen in 2002, following its involvement in the Enron scandal.

History of Big Four

Big Eight included:1. Arthur Andersen2. Arthur Young & Co.3. Coopers & Lybrand 4. Ernst & Whinney5. Deloitte Haskins & Sells6. Peat Marwick Mitchell (then KPMG)7. Price Waterhouse8. Touche Ross

Big Four -Legal structure

None of the Big Four accounting firms is a single firm. 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.

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited

Deloitte was founded in 1845 in London by William Welch Deloitte. Nowadays Deloitte, is

the largest private professional services organization in the world. According to the

organization's website as of 2010, Deloitte has approximately 170,000 staff at work in more

than 140 countries, delivering audit, tax, consulting, enterprise risk and financial

advisory services through its member firms.

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited

Deloitte global headquarters is located in Paramount Plaza, Midtown Manhattan, New York City, New York.

Company’s revenue for 2010 was $26,6 billion.

The CEO of DTTL is Barry Salzberg

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited

Services:1. Audit and Enterprise Risk Services: Provides the

organization's traditional accounting and audit services.

2. Consulting: Assists clients by providing services in the areas of enterprise applications, technology integration etc.

3. Financial Advisory: Provides corporate finance services to clients.

4. Tax: Helps clients increase their net asset value, undertake the transfer pricing and international tax activities of multinational companies.

5. Other Services: provides specialized services to clients in the fields of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

PricewaterhouseCoopers PwC is a global professional services firm. It is

the world's second-largest professional audit services firm. It was founded in London in 1849. It has offices in 757 cities across 154 countries and employs over 175,000 people. It had total revenues of $26.6 billion in 2010, of which $13 billion was generated by its Assurance practice, $7 billion by its Tax practice and $6 billion by its

Advisory practice.

PricewaterhouseCoopers PwC’s global

headquarteres is located in London, United Kingdom.

As of 2010 it was the seventh-largest privately-owned organisation in the United States.

PricewaterhouseCoopers Pricewaterhouse Coopers

has three main service lines:

1. Assurance Services.

2. Tax Advisory.

3. Advisory - mainly consulting activities which covers Strategy, Performance Improvement, Corporate Finance, Business Valuation, Sustainability and Crisis Management.

Ernst & Young

Ernst & Young (EY) is one of the largest professional services firms in the world it was founded in 1849. Ernst & Young is a global organization of member firms in more than 140 countries. EY employs over 141,000 people. It had total revenues of $21.3 billion in 2010.

Ernst & Young Ernst & Young is headquartered in London, UK. It was ranked by Forbes magazine as the 9th largest

private company in the United States in 2010. The firm's name arises from the global merger

between Ernst & Whinney and Arthur Young in 1989.

Ernst & Young EY has four main service lines:1. Assurance (47%): comprises Financial

Audit, Fraud Investigation and Climate Change & Sustainability Services.

2. Advisory Services (17%): consisting of four subservice lines: Actuarial, IT Risk and Assurance, Risk, and Performance Improvement.

3. Tax Services (27%)4. Transaction Advisory Services (TAS) (9%):

deals with companies' capital agenda - preserving, optimizing, investing and raising capital.

KPMG

KPMG is one of the largest professional services firms in the world it was established in 1870. It employs 138,000 people and has three lines of services: audit, tax and advisory.

KPMG KPMG global headquarters is located in

Amstelveen, Netherlands. KPMG employs over 138,000 people.

KPMG KPMG offers the following services:1. Audit (Financial Statement Audit,

Regulatory Audit).2. Tax (Business and Personal Tax

services).3. Advisory: KPMG's advisory services

are organized into three themes (growth, governance and performance).

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