Technology focuses on finding ways to adapt clients to the exponential transformations of their business, as well as improving productivity, and ensure smooth operations. Overall, Big 4 projects aim at a more massed market, resulting in higher unit sales (number of projects), but lower prices. As a result, the company is known for having longer hours compared to the rest of the Big 4. The "P" comes from William Barclay Peat, who founded the accounting firm William Barclay Peat & Co. in London in 1870. Hiring at EY-Parthenon is pointed in two directions. In 1933, the same year he gave the speech, Congress enacted The Securities Act required public corporations to file certified independent registration and annual public reports. EY Associate Salary (Undergraduate/Entry-Level), EY Senior Associate Salary(MBA/Experienced-Level). That is, if you can land a job there. All I can offer is that I am in Big 4 consulting now and that work-life balance, in my experience, is very positive. The Big Three or MBB refers to the name colloquially given to the world's three largest strategy consulting firms by revenue.They are considered to be the most prestigious firms in the management consulting industry. McKinsey is the biggest of these with an annual revenue of +$10bn (2018) followed by Boston Consulting Group ($8.5bn revenue; 2019) and then Bain & Company (+$4.5bn revenue; 2019). Big 4 consulting jobs are more accessible. By comparison, the most far-reaching MBB firm McKinsey is the only one to possess over 100 offices (+130), and 27,000 employees. Big 4 Consultancy Firm | 5,510 followers on LinkedIn. The firm sits comfortably at #6 on our list of top consulting firms by revenue, and we are likely to see its' consulting wing surpass audit in revenue within the next few years. EY-Parthenon Consulting focuses on the following fields: Although relatively still in its infancy, EY-Parthenon is amassing an enormous amount of success in now over 16 countries. And then in 2002, with the Enron scandal, Arthur Andersen met its demise and its practices were split between the remaining firms, now called the Big 4. MBB consultants are paid more, but Big 4 consultants enjoy better work-life balance. As of 2019, the four largest consulting firms in terms of revenue are the consulting branches of the Big 4 firms. Consulting in any other form is considered Industry experience. Like all top consulting firms, Accenture also use case interviews in their recruitment process Ive written a guide on their case interviews, which you should also check out by clicking on the link. More generalized areas of focus would be these six specific areas: Deloitte focuses largely on recruiting MBA's, interns from various stages of credibility, and undergrads; not necessarily from top tier schools either. Tier-2 is a common term denoting top consulting firms outside MBB and the Big 4. As of 2020, they are the four largest consulting firms in terms of revenue. Log in or sign up to leave a comment Log In Sign Up. The level of learning from exposure is understandably much better on the MBB side; McKinsey, BCG and Bain can also afford to spend more on each consultant, leading to better training and development, including the worlds top MBA programs. This lowers the barrier and allows each candidate a better chance at a consulting career. It had almost merged with EY in 1997, but after the merger fell through, it decided to sell stock instead in its consulting business instead. Not only do they have the most compelling history, but after sitting at the bottom of the Big 8 for decades, key mergers pushed them all the way to the top of the Big 4 where they sit today. Although the Big 4 firms do have non-consulting services to add into the numbers, these wildly different figures and the fact that MBB firms enjoy all the prestige and attention hints at another crucial difference between the two groups the nature of their projects. MBB firms, on the other hand, are much more selective McKinsey offices are only present in 65 countries, while BCG and Bain are in 50 and 37 countries respectively (nonetheless, you may still join an MBB office in neighboring countries MBB partners can start projects in countries without an office in fact, they only open offices in countries with a good track-record of successful projects). Their strategy consulting arms are often called something slightly strange. These four firms are the remaining players from the previous Big 8 accounting firms of the 80's. MBB consultants, on the other hand, can expect 60-80 hours per week. It is an excellent place to develop a deep understanding of Fortune 500 business operations. These four firms handle the vast majority of audits for publicly traded companies as well as large private companies. PwC Associate Salary(Undergraduate/Entry-Level), PwC Senior Associate Salary(MBA/Experienced-Level). The rest comes from assurance (audit), advisory, and consulting the last of which is our main topic. Management consulting and technology consulting has two different focuses. With inflation that is the equivalent to $16.8 million per year in 2018. In 1874, Hoyland left, and the company was named Price, Waterhouse & Co. At the same time, consulting isn't the end-all metric for Big 4 revenue, as KPMG boasts notably higher consulting revenue than Ernst & Young while trailing behind the firm substantially in overall revenue. The acquisition trail has been well-trodden by the Big Four, with some significant transactions in the past two years, of both niche and more mainstream consulting businesses. Big 4 are adept at tasks relating to financial management because of its solid financial foundation, but MBB are still the best consulting firms anyway. With the auditing scandals of the early 2000s and the new provisions of Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), merging auditing and consulting services became even more difficult, and PwC was ultimately forced to sell off their MCS division to IBM for a meager sum of $3.5 billion in cash and stock, which then rebranded as IBM Consulting Services. A consulting post at McKinsey, BCG or Bain is a better career choice overall, but every year thousands of applications are sent to each firm so many, that the acceptance rate is below 1%. KPMG Analyst Salary(Undergraduate/Entry-Level), KPMG Consultant Salary(MBA/Experienced-Level). MBB projects also demand their consultants to be more creative and flexible in problem-solving than Big 4 projects; in addition, MBB consultants also tend to work in more industries and functions than their Big 4 fellows who specialize early. The Big 4 include Deloitte, PwC, EY and KPMG. In 1978, Peat Marwick began to prepare to increase their globalization efforts in the world economy by forming Peat Marwick International. Price Waterhouse saw an enormity of organic growth worldwide throughout the 20th century, adding numerous offices and practices to the firm, and in 1982, it re-classified itself as the Price Waterhouse World Firm. Before that, however, the firm had a consulting division, called Andersen Consulting internal conflicts, however, led the division to spin off in 2000. It is also the only member that has not yet acquired a boutique consulting firm to enhance its consulting practice. What is the definition of Big 4 Consulting?Big 4 are offering an extensive range of financial auditing services, including audit, taxation, business and management consultancy, and risk assessment, mainly to Fortune 500 clients. You will need to begin the process during your junior or, at the latest, senior year of college. But let's put a number to that. Sometimes it isnt totally obvious which team is responsible for consulting. Early on try to get good grades (aim for 70s+ for Big 4 Consulting and boutiques and 80s+ for MBB strategy firms) and get involved as much as possible with student organisations and try to take on positions of responsibility. Management consulting and consulting are not the same It's important to define the Big 4 and establish the difference between Big 4 consulting and all other consulting. The second key firm behind today's EY was founded by Arthur Young. While the Big 4 have become major players in the consulting field, the classification of "Big 4" actually comes from the accounting world. And because all consulting firms look for the same qualities in their candidates, you can do consulting prep for both groups at the same time. Deloitte and KPMG retained a majority hold on their consulting arms (although part of KPMGs consulting branch did split to become BearingPoint). Whether or not you attempt to climb the ranks to partner comes down to your own long-term career and lifestyle goals. In addition, these mammoth organizations advise on tax and offer a wide range of management and assurance services. More than 88% go on to become full time employees after graduation. The four networks are often grouped together for a number of reasons; they are each comparable in size relative to the rest of the market, both in terms of revenue and workforce; they are each considered equal in their ability to provide a wide scope of professional services to their cl Like Deloitte, PwC also owns a separate strategy division, called Strategy&, which was formed by PwCs acquisition of Booz & Company (not to be confused with its former-parent Booz Allen Hamilton, which remains independent as another top-tier consulting group). The same cannot be said of the firms' histories. 100% Upvoted. Nonetheless, today accounting/auditing services only contributed a minor part of the Big 4s total revenue. In 1989, the two firms merged to become the Ernst & Young we know today. However, the Big 4 wasnt always the Big 4 for most of the 20th century, the accounting industry was dominated by the Big 8 firms Deloitte Haskins & Sells, Touche Ross, Ernst & Whinney, Arthur Young, Peat Marwick Mitchell, Price Waterhouse, Coopers & Lybrand, and Arthur Andersen. They now employ nearly 264,000 employees in hundreds of offices worldwide. Over the following five years, PwC acquired five more firms, the most significant being Booz & Company in 2014. Deloitte's consulting branch soon became its highest grossing venture and, for a time, the largest management consultancy in the world. It's a highly popular place to work and as we mentioned earlier, consistently tops the list of best places to work for just about every available metric. BOUTIQUE CONSULTING FIRMS VS. THE BIG 4: COST OF CONSULTING SERVICES. As of 2017, the Big 4 audited 497 of the S&P 500. In the true consulting spirit, I present to you Vaults rankings of the most prestigious consulting firms in the US in 2020 even though the Big 4 and their strategy consulting arms take up 6 slots in the top 15, they are considerably behind the Big 3 the only gap wider than 1 point (1.48) is between Bain and Deloitte the least prestigious of MBB and the most prestigious of Big 4. Finally, the two companies, Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand, merged in 1998 to form the firm that stands today: PricewaterhouseCoopers. They dominate the market as of 2017, 497 of the S&P 500 firms are audited by one of these firms an astounding collective market share of 99.4%. The same thing applies to the rest of the Big 5 consulting, along with legal and tax advisory, was providing the majority of their revenue. On the MBB side, the projects provide more tailored solutions, while Big 4 answers are generally more formulaic and methodical. In 1990, Coopers & Lybrand saw a brief merger with a familiar name in Deloitte Haskins & Sells, but changed its title back in 1992 to Coopers & Lybrand. The last time we left off with Arthur Andersen, it was facing demise following the Enron scandal. They offer audit, assurance services, taxation, management consulting, advisory, actuarial, corporate finance and legal services, to name just few. In two years of simplifying and improving work quality, as well as increasing efficiency, Haskins and Sells were able to save the government $600,000 per year. These differences in projects lead to major implications for anyone who pursues a consulting career. Accordingly, Big 4 consultants tend to work with the clients middle-management, rather than with its C-suite. MBB projects normally entail high-level strategy consulting, while Big 4 consulting services lean towards implementation and highly-specific problems in areas such as accounting, tax, risk or legal advice. The high concentration of international mergers and globalization in the late 1980's and early 1990's provided Deloitte with a broader range of clients facing a diverse set of challenges.