.:The Big Four:.

     Continuing from last time, long story short I wanted to become an accountant and started taking courses to prepare myself for the CPA (please see my previous posts to get the whole picture).  But all of this is useless if I don't have a place to work for once I graduate.  So I started looking up some of the best places to launch an accounting career upon graduation and here is what I came up with: The BIG 4.  (A/N: Information and statistics have been derived from the VAULT career guide book available in the UCSD Career Services Center).

     In the realm of business the Big Four stands for the four largest accounting and professional service provider firms in the world.  These four international agencies are: Deloitte, PwC, Ernst & Young, and KPMG and they specialize in some or all of the following business sectors: auditing and assurance, advisory and consulting, transactions and mergers and acquisitions, and tax.  I will explain what all these mean in a later post.  For now I will focus on the Big Four.

     Deloitte is headquartered in New York and currently has an estimated one hundred and seventy thousand employees globally.  It is the largest company of the Big Four and one of their main highlights, which distinguish them from the other firms, is their emphasis on using Business Technology to solve problems particularly in the realm of consulting.  This means consultants often use computer technology such as: software programming, computer designing and other technical skills to solve a client’s problem(s).  They also have a huge emphasis on social and cultural diversity and are often seen as a large co-ed fraternity type—so hip hip for party-goers who like doing business.

     PWC which is short for PricewaterhouseCoopers is the second largest company of the Big Four.  It employs over one hundred sixty thousand employees globally and has a very high employee growth rate.  Headquartered in the United Kingdom (London to be precise), PWC is considered safe, steady and one of Fortune 100’s best places to launch a career.  It has encountered few lawsuits over its rich history and is over all a very fast growing firm, coming in close to Deloitte’s #1.

     Ernst and Young, headquartered in New York City currently employees over one and forty thousand employees globally.  It is one of the best career places for working mothers as this firm is one of the few who actively promotes women’s rights and women’s equality.  During one of their networking sessions at UCSD that I attended, I distinctly remember all the members representing the company were females so it’s a great place to launch a career for the modern woman and according to Forbes’ it was the #1 place to launch a career in 2008.  Moreover, it boasts as the #1 tax consulting firm in the United States.

     KPMG is based in the Netherlands and has a huge emphasis on sports.  It is said that employees often have sports competitions such as soccer on a weekly basis and they actually get to take time off for that.  It has consistently been one of the top four places to work for every year, and currently has over one hundred thirty eight thousand employees working there internationally.

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Hope you enjoyed the overview.  After reading this blog you should have gained important statistics that I learned from attending info sessions at the UCSD Career Service Center and conferences hosted by the UCSD Undergraduate Accounting Society, where keynote speakers from each of the companies above (professionally coined "The Big Four" in the business realm) came to UCSD to present claims about their companies--what makes them special and why they are good places to launch a career after graduation.