What are the differences between the big four?

What are the differences between the big four?

Well, I mean, they are all big, and there are four of them if you count them all, but each one is inherently unique from the others in their profit margins, business structures, number of employees, as well as salarys, working conditions, and benefits offered. I do believe if you research the topic enough, you may even find the one thats the best to work for out of all of them!

Jesus christ OP! That's brilliant!

KPMG > Deloitte > EY > PWC

pwc and deloitte almost exclusively do offshore compared to the other 2

My fiance interviewed with both EY and PwC and said they were both very similar. She eventually chose EY over PwC because PwC seemed snooty by comparison during the interview and EY seemed more relax.

I've had a little bit of experience with Deloitte (went to DU for a little conference they put on for transitioning vets) and they seemed alright. My fiance said that Deloitte guys are cutthroat though.

Haven't heard a lot about KPMG.

TLDR: They're all kinda the same job wise, just go to the one that is a better culture fit for you. It's not uncommon for people to bounce between all 4 of them

They are all much the same. In terms of prestige, PwC probably tops the list, followed by KPMG/Deloitte, followed lastly by EY.

In terms of culture, they will all try to tell you how great and different they are, but realistically it's much the same - they all tend to be filled with a combination of diversity hires and white men from private schools. This will vary on your division however. In fact, I'd say there's more variance culture and working situation wise between EY Audit and EY Transactions than there is between EY and KPMG as a whole, for example. The divisions are more important than the company.

EY in my experience seems to have some very lovely people, seems to be fairly casual, but they are into the open plan office meme. They are the most extreme in their pursuit of growth because they are on the smaller side.

PwC is very goals orientated and likes to think they are on the cutting edge of social engagement - eg. here they generally don't have set hours as long as the work gets done and they are pretty open to working from home and not wearing full corporate attire.

KPMG is very competitive internally from what I have heard, but also seems to be the most likely to hire people who aren't necessarily degree qualified as long as they have experience and passion.

Deloitte I don't know much about directly to compare.

But to sum it up they are all much the same, if you get an offer from any of them, take it, because the prestige, experience etc. you gain will be invaluable for your career development. I find a lot of middle managers tend to work at two or three of the Big 4 over their careers, so it's not even that unrealistic to swap between them. It'll also have a wider range of roles on offer compared to mid tier firms. Be aware that eventually you'll be better off moving from one to another as a lateral hire in terms of career progression and pay rises however.

Deloitte is the only one with a decent consulting arm, the rest is shitty accounting anyways. It's beyond me why anyone would slave away in a boring accounting job with shitty pay, but it seems to be regarded as a great career on Veeky Forums

Exit opportunities.

Same idea as why would you go into a slavewage $25/hr 100 hour a week Investment Banking job. The reason is because you can get hired by a hedge fund or PE firm and make 200-300K+ a year.

Where the fuck are you gonna exit to from accounting?
Certainly not great paying finance jobs.

They're the same as any public firm op. I was a shitty contractor job competing with these big4 douche nozzles and was getting the interviews.

Now I work in futures and make 65k a year in entry level capping at 37.5hr weeks

You obviously don't know a lot about the field. Once you have CA/CPA/CFA (of which any big 4 will help you study for as well as pay for) you can fairly easily step out into roles in consulting, restructuring, corporate finance, banking as well as private commerce and so on. Most of these public firms big 4 wise also have several divisions which do vastly different roles, some of which are very far from a traditional tax or audit accounting role.

Accounting as both a field and a degree tend to be highly sought after in most business fields, even more so if you have additional qualifications or experience - as long as you aren't going towards very niche roles the opportunities can be fairly vast.

They're more or less the same on a national scale, except KPMG which seems to be barely holding on to its B4 status.

Local offices will each be completely different from each other; you might find EY really chill in one city, but complete arses in another.

Kek. I have a CFA and work on the buy-side and almost everyone has a banking or research background in this industry. Accounting will do shit for you in investment management or even top-tier consulting. Unless you go to grad school or maybe make it into an analyst role in banking, which you could have just done straight after school, you are fucked.

They're literally all the same. During interviews and events, try and network with the New Hires and current Associates. They're going to be the ones you're working with when you start, and they'll be creating the culture at the time.

Accounting can always exit to Finance. Finance can never exit to Accounting.

I really don't think this is true - an immaterial number of people with a CPA/big 4 experience exit into a hedge fund/bulge bracket. In contrast, someone with the latter experience can fairly easily go into some sort of capital advisory role in big 4.

You are mistaken, the majority of big 4 workers transfer to finance roles after about 3 years, it's almost the norm. As another pointed out, it's very easy to transfer from a CA background into banking and finance but it is not possible to step into CA roles from finance backgrounds without further study. Roles in advisory are open to all degree fields, so its a moot point. You'll also find most big 4 in almost every country operate M&A and capital raising divisions which are growing and competing with IBs, so movement from a big 4 CF into an IB, VC or hedge fund is not unrealistic and has about as equal chance as any finance worker stepping into it. Ultimately it doesn't matter which path you chose, these fields are dominated by people who know people. It's who you know, not what you know, and if you don't know anyone you better hope you're a female lesbian minority with a minor disability.

Not sure which country your rating for or what basis
But if your rating for enjoying work and work life balance your almost there

In aus id say it's
KPMG>EY>Deloitte>PwC

>Moving from accounting to a VC or hedge fund
You are beyond delusional mate

I don't think you understand the industry at all family

I work in it and nobody here hasn't done banking, research or b-school before going buy-side. Straight from accounting is pretty unheard of.

>cpa
>while working 80 hours a week

What you say is true but accountants can work in any industry while finance is limited to banks.

If you took the extra 40 hours a week they aren't paying you for and learned sql, programming and data science you would make way more money than proving how obedient a slave you are at the big four.

Finance is not limited to banks. You can even do "finance" at the big 4 if you do stuff like transaction pricing. But the juicy finance jobs are somewhere else though (not at the banks either). Those jobs are ultra competitive and as an accountant you are on the bottom of the food chain in this industry. Accounting is fine if you like a safe but boring job, but dont try to tell me it has these awesome exit opps, because that's just bullshit.

are you dumb? Every big business needs people in finance.

Most large businesses that hire people in "finance" usually mean financial control which they hire accountants for, not finance majors. Having a finance major alone is honestly barely sufficient for an actual finance job without the foundation knowledge tbqhfamalam.
Every big 4 firm requires you to do CPA/CA if you are in tax or audit, and it is desirable for the other divisions as well, though some will pursue other additional qualifcations instead. Perhaps in the third world 80 hour weeks are a norm but that doesn't really happen regularly here even in IB. If you're working 80 hours I feel p sorry for you, but you have time to post here so you obviously don't work 80 hours.

Just finished a summer internship with a Big4. I enjoyed the work and thought it was interesting. But I had to commute 1.5-2 hrs each way. After the end of the day I was exhausted. Moving closer is out of the question for the next few years (family and financial reasons). I know if I start full time I'll be working 10-12 hrs days.

I'm starting to think about applying for regional firms this years. There would be max 30 minute commute but I'll be making less.

Any thoughts on mid sized vs Big4, biz?

Also, how the fuck am I suppose to study for the CPA working and commuting at all hours of the day?

some are jewish but some are chinese

If you can suck it up for a few years at a big 4, you can get a job anywhere you want in the future.

Is this some kind of Veeky Forums meme that I am not getting?

Why would anyone work there and why would anyone need those companies?

Let's see, they all offer disclaimers, so the company you are buying might as well lie on their data and none of the Big 4 care, they just look at some numbers which everyone can do.

You can't become a millionaire working there, you just wageslave with slightly higher salary maybe.

I did consultant work for Deloitte. They are soul-sucking. They pair the actual employees the lowest they can pay while expecting them to work endless hours.

I interviewed with them after my contract. Went through 7 interviews over 3 months. Yes. Seven. Fucking. Interviews.

Then they offered me 48k/year. I was literally like "Wat."

Was so pissed. Fuck them. I stayed unemployed for a couple months until I found a job elsewhere.

Many CFOs are accountants.

These big companies buy into their own hype and completely live inside their own world. They're designed for old wage slaves that have given up on life. If you're young ambitious and driven, go work for a startup you like instead.

Why would anyone work like that?

What is the point? The whole reason for life is to enjoy it. What is the point of working at big 4 and being little replaceable cog in a huge machinery. You wont become a millionaire from them.

Why not just start a business you are passionate about or just try to learn programming and sell finance programs / algos or games or whatever , just be your own master and earn 10x of what you would at any of the big 4.

I just don't get it.

They all seem so dry, boring and wageslavy as fuck.

I understand investment banking, at least you earn a shitload there, but not in big 4.

why a start up? How much will they shell out for an entry or senior accounting position?

Maybe if you move on early and spent the next 30 years climbing up the corporate ladder. If you want to make decent money within the next 5 years, IB or buy-side is your best bet.

In the grand scheme, they are all pretty much the same. It's the teams you work for that vary greatly. The most notable differences b/w the four are where they are each strong/weak both by region and industry.

What?
I have a friend who has an internship with either PwC or Deloitte and he's getting paid like $23/hr already

OK. I worked for a big 4 for 2 years and hated it. Have worked with Regional for 10 and love it.

If you love to travel, have no family you are leaving behind, and dont care if you are never home, the big 4 is for you. If you want to be home at night, want to get married and have a family, a regional firm is for you.

Working for a big 4 is how I landed my job with the regional firm, but I didnt enjoy the work at the big 4.

My first year at the big 4 I spent 6 months in Alabama, a month in New Jersey, a month in North Carolina, and 4 months in Georgia. They asked me to come in and do interviews for the college kids, and I literally knew no one in the office. I was supposed to send the kids to a partner's office down the hall and only knew the name of the partner from the piece of paper in front of me.

I was glad to leave the big 4. I have found a home at the regional firm I work for.

Everyone's experience is different. I audit financial companies in NYC for the B4 and never have to travel anywhere. One piece of advice is to know what you're getting into though.