up 1.4% in 2010 after 7% drop in 2009. deloitte takes top spot from pwc.
via “the 2010 big four firms performance analysis” by big4.com
after an extraordinary period of continuous revenue growth from the early 2000s to 2008, combined revenue for the big four firms fell 7% in 2009, then recovered in 2010 and seems headed for bigger advances this year, according to “the 2010 big four firms performance analysis” by big4.com.
in 2009, revenue decreases in us dollar percentage terms ranged from negative 5% for deloitte to negative 7% each for ernst & young and pricewaterhousecoopers to negative 11% for kpmg. but in 2010, the situation improved remarkably, with $95 billion combined revenue for the four firms in fiscal 2010 increasing 1.4% from $94 billion in fiscal 2009 in us dollar terms.
revenue increases in us dollar percentage terms ranged from negative 0.9% for ernst & young, 1.5% for pwc, 1.8% for deloitte and 2.6% for the fastest-grower, kpmg. kpmg also had positive growth in all its three regions and narrowed its revenue gap with e&y. e&y was the only firm whose full year revenues shrank, though the firm indicated that the second half of the fiscal year was much stronger, especially in advisory and tas.
the big story of 2010 was that deloitte with its 1.8% growth was able to beat pricewaterhousecoopers with its 1.5% growth to gain first place and become the largest accounting firm on the planet. in 2009, pwc was narrowly ahead of deloitte, but deloitte’s 2010 revenues of $26.578 billion was ahead of pwc’s 2010 revenues of $26.569 billion by an ultra-slim, but very significant, $9 million. ernst & young took the third spot at $21.3 billion, and kpmg maintained its position as the smallest of the big four firms at $20.6 billion, but narrowed the gap against e&y.
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