About Big Four Audit Firms

Big Four (audit firms) 

The Big Four are the four largest international professional services networks in accountancy and professional services, offering audit, assurance, tax, consulting, advisory, actuarial, corporate finance and legal services. They handle the vast majority of audits for publicly traded companies as well as many private companies, creating an oligopoly in auditing large companies.The Big Four firms are shown below, with their latest publicly available data.

This group was once known as the "Big Eight", and was reduced to the "Big Six" and then "Big Five" by a series of mergers. The Big Five became the Big Four after the demise of Arthur Andersen in 2002, following its involvement in the Enron scandal.

Internship at the Big Four

The easiest way to get a full-time job at one of the Big Four accounting firms is through the internship process. Each of the public accounting firms hires a large class of interns from all of the top schools and from many regional schools each year. A majority of these interns will receive full-time offers at their internship firms.

If you want a job at one of the Big Four firms, remember you have only four chances to get a job. These opportunities are each precious, so prepare thoroughly ahead of time. Know all the answers to the typical questions (discussed later in this chapter). No matter what your goal is, in order to succeed in getting a good internship, you need to be well prepared for all of your interviews.



This year, Vault also asked respondents to provide us with actual interview questions that hiring managers asked during interviews. And below are a few handfuls of questions that Big 4 accounting firms—Deloitte, Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and KPMG—asked candidates during the internship or full-time interview process. And so, if you're planning to interview with one of the four largest accounting firms in the world, you better have answers prepared for these 21: