Global professional services firms EY, PwC, Deloitte and KPMG make up “the big 4”. These firms offer consulting services in four main areas, including strategy. The four largest management consulting firms in the world are PwC, KPMG, Deloitte and EY. The comparison between the top 3 and the big 4 consulting firms is an interesting comparison.
The three main management consulting firms are McKinsey, Bain and BCG, known as MBB firms. They are not necessarily the biggest firms, but rather the ones that have the most prestige and can charge high commissions to their clients. The Big 4 refer to the top 4 accounting firms. These firms may have strategy branches that compete with MBB firms, but most of their business is related to accounting.
So let's do a little comparison between the top 3 and the top 4 consulting firms and see what some of the differences are. If you're looking for what firms to apply to, this should provide you with some useful facts to consider. Since the 1990s, the four big companies (or rather, the big ones) have been intensely dedicated to management consulting; in fact, when Enron collapsed in 2002, Arthur Andersen earned more from the consulting services he provided to that company than from auditing services. Due to the high level of their projects, MBB consultants often come into contact with high-level executives on the client side, while the four major consultants, especially the junior ones, work mainly with middle managers.
Whether it's because of the breakneck pace of learning on the job or because of being surrounded by extremely intelligent and experienced colleagues, or because of the high salaries and bonuses offered by a management consulting career. The top four management consulting firms are Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (Deloitte), KPMG International (KPMG), PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Ernst & Young (EY).
