In 2024, EY generated a record global revenue of approximately 51 billion U.S. dollars. Between 2011 and 2024, the annual revenue of EY grew exponentially. The professional partnership firm saw their highest growth in almost two decades in fiscal year 2022. EY - Global powerhouse Ernst & Young is a global professional services firm and one of the Big Four auditing firms, the others being Deloitte, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). The company now abbreviates its name to EY since rebranding in 2013. EY provides several business services including, assurance, advisory, tax, and transaction advisory services. The company is spread globally with operations in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Japan. Since 2010, the revenue of Ernst & Young has continuously grown, increasing nearly twofold in one decade. Employee growth In 2023, EY was the third third largest accounting firm in the world in terms of revenue, following Deloitte and PwC. In the same year the firm also ranked second in terms of employment with approximately 400,000 employees worldwide. The next largest was PwC with approximately 365,000 employees worldwide. Global revenue sources In 2024, EY generated the majority of its revenue in the Americas, grossing approximately 24 billion U.S. dollars. Prior to 2015, Ernst & Young consistently generated its highest revenues in the EMEIA (Europe, Middle East, India and Africa) business region, accumulating over 200 million U.S. dollars more than in the Americas in 2014.

Ernst & Young (EY) employed almost 400,000 people worldwide in 2024, with around 126,000 of those employees working in the assurance service line and 73,000 employed in the tax services sector. A growing global workforce Of all the Big Four accounting firms, only Deloitte employed more people worldwide than EY. The firm has continually increased its worldwide workforce since 2010, with the advisory services sector seeing the greatest increase in the number of employees. EY is a global accounting company with employees based in more than 150 countries. In 2023, the largest share of its workforce was based in the geographic area of Europe, the Middle East, India, and Africa (EMEIA). EY: A brief history EY was formed following a merger between two of the traditional Big Eight accounting firms in 1989; at the time, the merger created the largest professional services network in the world. Prior to the merger, Ernst and Whinney was the fifth largest accounting firm in the world, while Arthur Young ranked sixth – both had annual revenues of around two billion U.S. dollars. In 2024, EY reported record annual revenue figures of approximately 51 billion U.S. dollars, making it the third largest of the current Big Four accounting firms.

Deloitte reported total revenue figures of around 67 billion U.S. dollars in 2024, the highest among the Big Four accounting firms. The company also led the rankings in the Americas, but it was PwC who came out on top in the EMEA region (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa). Accounting around the world Deloitte generated 36.4 billion U.S. dollars in North and South America in 2024, which was slightly more than half of their revenue worldwide. A similar story was reported by PwC, with almost half of their aggregated worldwide revenue in 2024 being made in the regions of the Asia Pacific and EMEA. PwC experienced particularly strong growth in EMEA where aggregate revenues in the region increased in recent years. Who are the Big Four? The four biggest accounting firms worldwide are Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Ernst and Young (EY), and Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG). Known as the Big Four, the companies have a significant oligopoly in the accounting market and generated a combined revenue worldwide of over 212 billion U.S. dollars and employed over one million people globally in 2024. Until 1989, the market had been dominated by eight accounting firms – also known as audit firms or professional services networks – but the number has since halved due to mergers and the collapse of major American accounting firm Arthur Andersen.

In 2024, Deloitte roughly 21 billion U.S. dollars in revenue from its assurance segment, making it the leader in the assurance market among the Big Four. The Big Four worldwide The Big Four consist of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Deloitte, Ernst & Young (EY), and KPMG. These companies are the four largest accounting and audit firms worldwide. In 2024, they brought in more than 212 billion U.S. dollars in global combined revenue. Out of the four, Deloitte had the highest number of employees. Second in the list was Ernst & Young, followed by PwC, and KPMG. The majority of revenue generated by Deloitte came from the Americas region, as was the case with PwC and EY. The Big Four in the U.S. These four companies have the most influence in the accounting and audit sector in the United States, auditing over 80 percent of U.S. public companies. Out of the Big Four, Deloitte brought in the highest gross revenue in the United States. Following Deloitte was PwC, bringing in 22.75 billion U.S. dollars, then Ernst & Young, that brought in 21.46 billion U.S. dollars. KPMG brought in the least, generating 12.2 billion U.S. dollars the same year.

With a total revenue of over 67 billion U.S. dollars, Deloitte was the largest of the Big Four accounting firms in 2024. The combined revenue of the firms increased steadily in the last decade and exceeded 212 billion U.S. dollars in 2024. The Big Four accounting firms The leading accounting firms in the world are Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Ernst & Young (EY), and Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG). The firms provide their clients with various professional services that include auditing, corporate finance, and legal advice. Consulting revenue accounted for around 40 percent of Deloitte’s record total in 2024, whereas PwC and EY received most of their revenue from auditing services. International firms with workforces to match When broken down by geographical region, the three biggest firms generated most of their revenue in the Americas region – KPMG’s most lucrative region was its network of firms in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (including India). The United States has remained a major market for all four firms, where Deloitte generated nearly half of its total revenue in 2024. In terms of the number of employees, the four firms had a combined global workforce of more than one million people, as Deloitte once again led the way in 2024.

When it comes to consulting services, size does not necessarily amount to prestige. In 2024, McKinsey & Company was rated as the most prestigious consulting firm in the United States with a rating of more than nine. The Big Four Of all the consultancy firms, the best known are the Big Four, who account for almost 40 percent of the global market. The Big Four consists of the firms Deloitte, PwC (Pricewaterhouse Coopers), EY (Ernst & Young) and KPMG. These multinational businesses primarily provide financial consulting services such as taxation, audit, and risk advisory. Together, the revenue that they generate from consulting services dominates the financial segment of this particular U.S. market. A multi-faceted market While the global consultancy firms may have a significant amount of turnover defined by audit and risk advisory, this service is only one segment of the global market. Management consulting services and the vast global revenue that it creates are broadly conceived of as including the operations, strategy, and human resources segments, and this has constituted towards more than half of the global market.

In 2024, Deloitte was the largest accounting firm in the United States with a revenue of 33 billion U.S. dollars. Leading accounting firms - additional information Deloitte was the third largest tax firm in the United States in 2023 behind PwC and Ernst & Young. Worldwide, the company generated a revenue of roughly 67 billion U.S. dollars in 2024. When broken down by region, the largest source of revenue for Deloitte came from the Americas. The number of employees at Deloitte totaled 460,000 people in the same year. Accounting services in the United States The number of accountants and auditors in the United States has remained steady between 1.3 and 1.5 million people over the last several years. In 2024, there were 1.4 million people employed in these professions. Although the sector is expected to flourish in terms of numbers, there has been a considerable gender wage gap within the accounting and auditing industry. In 2021, men earned around 230 U.S. dollars more per week than women doing the same job.