Top 10 US accountancy firms in 2024
Deloitte:
Deloitte is currently the number one accounting firm in the US with annual revenues of approximately $59bn in 2023. The group was founded in 1845 by William Welch Deloitte in London, England. In the following years, the firm was expanded upon by George Touche and Admiral Nobuzo Tohmatsu.
At the age of 15, William Welch Deloitte became an assistant to the Official Assignee at the Bankruptcy Court in the City of London. As president of the newly created Institute of Chartered Accountants, he found a site for its headquarters in 1888. George A. Touche, a Scotsman, established a London-based accounting company in 1898 to help meet that demand. Two years later, he followed the flow of British capital to the United States, establishing the first US office of Touche, Niven and Company. In 1913, Niven opened the organisation’s first branch offices in Minneapolis and Chicago
Following that in In the 1980s, Deloitte and Touche led the profession through a decade of unprecedented merger and acquisition activity in American business. The organisation’s proficiency in mergers and acquisitions emerged in the 1970s when a new style of management became prominent in corporate America. In 1995, a century after its founding, the partners of Deloitte and Touche voted to create Deloitte Consulting to better serve our multinational clients.
Between 2003 and 2005, Deloitte LLP reorganised its businesses to better align itself with the manner in which business is conducted. It currently has the following four subsidiaries that provide client services: Deloitte and Touche LLP, Deloitte Consulting LLP, Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP and Deloitte Tax LLP. As of 2023, the firm employs 171,100 professions.
Additionally, Deloitte has around 134 offices in the US and is present in 106 cities. Jason Girzadas is the CEO of Deloitte US, succeeding Joe Ucuzoglu and Janet Foutty in January 2023.
PwC
The second largest firm is Deloitte’s Big Four counterpart Pricewaterhouse Cooper, or PwC. Formed in 1998 from a merger between Price Waterhouse and Coopers and Lybrand, PwC has a history in client services that dates back to the nineteenth century. Both accounting firms originated in London during the mid-1800s.
William Cooper founded an accountancy practice in 1854, which later became Cooper Brothers seven years later. In 1954, the firm agreed with Lybrand, Ross Bros and Montgomery and McDonald, Currie and Co. to adopt the name Coopers and Lybrand when practising internationally.
Accountant Samuel Lowell Price partnered with William Hopkins Holyland and Edwin Waterhouse in 1865, which later became known as Price, Waterhouse and Co. In 1998, Price Waterhouse and Coopers and Lybrand merged together.
In 2010, the firm shortened its name to PwC, which is what it is more commonly known as, however legally remains PricewaterhouseCoopers. Today, PwC is one of the so-called “Big Four” audit firms that offer audit, tax, assurance, advisory, consulting, actuarial, legal and corporate finance services. It has the largest tax services practice of any of the otherwise listed advisory firms. For the year ending 30 June 2023, PwC’s gross revenues were $53.1bn.
Paul Griggs is the US senior partner and US chair of PwC. In February 2024, more than 4,000 partners elected Griggs to a four-year term to succeed Tim Ryan, who retired on June 30, 2024 after serving as US senior partner since 2016.
Ernst and Young
Ernst and Young (EY) has long been one of the top accounting firms worldwide. It is a multinational professional services group born out of the merger of Ernst and Whinney and Arthur Young and Co. Founded in 1989, the global network’s oldest component dates back to 1849 through the English firm Harding and Pullein. An accountant named Frederick Whinney joined the group, later becoming a partner whose son named the company Whinney, Smith and Whinney in 1894.
Meanwhile, in 1903 two Ohio brothers, Alwin and Theodore Ernst, had set up Ernst and Ernst. Elsewhere, in Chicago, Arthur Young and Co had been established in the same decade and since formed with British accountancy group Broads Paterson and Co.
Ernst mirrored the path to Britain, merging with Whinney Smith and Whinney to form Ernst and Whinney in 1979. Ten years later the two firms combined to form the company in its current form, which was only officially rebranded to its initialised EY name in 2013.
While the group is based in London, EY’s global structure is split into its EMEIA, Americas, and Asia-Pacific operations. The group currently offers professional services in more than 150 countries. From consulting services to risk advisory, it helps non-profit organisations and state and local government agencies alike. EY US revenues grew 12% from FY22, with total revenues at $21.5bn in FY23 as its multidisciplinary teams delivered more than 165,000 engagements.
The group was also recognised in the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list for the 25th consecutive year and in Fair360’s Top 50 Companies Hall of Fame. In 2022, EY split its audit and consulting units in two companies.
KPMG
KPMG is in over 155 countries worldwide and ranks fourth among the Big Four accounting firms. The name KPMG is an acronym based on its founding fathers’ surnames: Piet Klynveld, William Barclay Peat, James Marwick and Reinhard Goerdeler. Its origins date back to the 1870s when a young William Barclay Peat, began working as a clerk at a firm that would eventually take his name. In 1910, his firm merged with Thomson McLintock and Co – which was founded by Thomson McLintock in Glasgow.
Meanwhile, in 1897, the US firm Marwick, Mitchell and Company got its start in New York City. The company was formed by James Marwick (the M in KPMG) and Roger Mitchell – both Scottish immigrants. It wasn’t easy establishing a firm in the city, but the two soon built a strong reputation and the firm later became known as Peat, Marwick, Mitchell and Co.
In 1978, Peat, Marwick, Mitchell Co (International) implemented a new structure and was renamed Peat Marwick International (PMI). Growth was on the agenda for Klynveld Kraayenhof and Co. too. Just a year later in 1979, the firm joined forces with DTG and McLintock Main Lafrentz to form Klynveld Main Goerdeler (KMG). Just under a decade later, In 1986 PMI merged with KMG. On January 1, 1987, when the merger was announced to the public, the joint companies were renamed to Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG). At the time it was the largest merger in the history of the accounting business.
The group currently has over 75 offices and more than 40,000 employees and partners throughout the US. The group reported an annual globally aggregated revenues of $36bn for the fiscal year ending 30 September 2023 (FY23), an increase of 8% from FY22.
McGladrey (RSM)
Changing its name to RSM in 2015, McGladrey holds the fifth spot in the list. The group’s history traces to 1926, when Ira B. McGladrey started his own accounting firm in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The I.B. McGladrey Company was formed when McGladrey purchased a seven-person office from his employers, Billings, Prouty and Tompkins.
In 1999, RSM McGladrey Inc. was established as an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of the Block organisation. Then in 2013, the firm announced the relocation of its headquarters to Chicago. McGladrey LLP firm also launched its culture, diversity and inclusion efforts led by Rich Caturano. Following that, in 2015 McGladrey changed its name to RSM US LLP and united with fellow firms in the RSM International network under the brand RSM.
Brian Becker is managing partner and CEO for RSM US LLP. He oversees the firm’s strategy and operations across four countries—the United States, Canada, El Salvador and India. According to its FY2024 Impact report, the group reached the $4bn mark after a nearly $8% increase in revenue, up from $3.7bn in 2023.
Holding the sixth position is Grant Thornton, which launched in 1924 as Alexander Grant and Co in Chicago. In 1980, it joined with other international accounting firms to form Grant Thornton International Ltd.
Now nearly a century later, Grant Thornton LLP is the US member firm of Grant Thornton International Ltd, one of the world’s leading organisations of independent audit, tax and advisory firms. Together with these international firms, Grant Thornton LLP serves private, public and nonprofit organisations of all industries and sizes across their lifecycle. The firm currently employs around 15,000 employees.
Grant Thornton’s global revenues grew to a record $7.5 bn for the financial year ended 30 September 2023 and its global headcount grew from 68,517 to 72,858.
CBIZ (Mayer Hoffman McCann)
Founded 1987, CBIZ/ Mayer Hoffman McCann is headquartered in Cleveland and as of 2023 reported annual revenues of around $1.59bn. Mayer Hoffman McCann’s history dates back to 1954 when it got its start as a single location accounting practice in Kansas City. Ernest D. Mayer, CPA, grew into Mayer White and Hoffman in 1960 and became Mayer Hoffman McCann (MHM) in 1978. In 1998, MHM sold its tax and consulting practices to Century Business Services (CBIZ) and now focuses primarily on attest services.
MHM is an independent CPA firm that provides audit, review and attest services, and works closely with CBIZ. CBIZ underwent a merger several years ago and now specialises in auditing, financial advisory, estate planning and law firm litigation support for companies and individuals alike. The firm caters to a wide range of sectors including agribusiness, construction, healthcare, manufacturing, private equity, real estate, professional service, retail, and technology.
The group currently has 120 offices and nearly 7,000 team members in major metropolitan areas and suburban cities throughout the US. Jerome P. Grisko, Jr. was appointed CEO in March 2016 and a director of CBIZ in November 2015. He has served as president of CBIZ since February 2000.
BDO
Ranking eight on the list is Binder Dijker Otte and Co or BDO. The firm’s history dates back to 1910, when Maximillian L. Seidman, Francis E. Seidman, and Jacob S. Seidman—three immigrant brothers—founded Seidman and Seidman in New York City. The firm is currently headquartered in Chicago, and has provided services to a wide range of publicly traded and privately held companies for over a century. The group provides assurance, tax and advisory services to clients around the world. BDO also excels in complexity management and treasury services and is known for its expertise in mergers and acquisitions.
In 2023 the group reported total US revenues of $2.8bn an increase of 6% from 2022. In the same year, BDO USA became the first large accounting and advisory organisation to establish an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). In the US, BDO has over 75 offices and 12,000 professionals.
Wayne Berson is the CEO of BDO USA, P.A. He previously served as the Atlantic Assurance regional managing principal and from 2010 through 2012 as chairman of the BDO USA board of directors.
CliftonLarsonAllen, better known as CLA, delivers integrated wealth advisory and outsourcing on top of audit and tax services. Clifton Gunderson was founded in 1960 in Peoria, Illinois, as Clifton, Gunderson, Coker and DeBruyn. The firm’s first acquisition occurred in Illinois in 1965. In 1973, its name was shortened to Clifton Gunderson and it became a limited liability partnership (LLP) in 2001.
From 1976 to 1978, Clifton Gunderson added firms in Colorado, Wisconsin, and Missouri. From 1982 to 1987, it expanded to Maryland, Arizona, Indiana, and Iowa. Expansion continued into Ohio and Texas in the 1990s, and by the end of the decade, Clifton Gunderson had grown to become a well-known regional player within the accounting profession.
On 2 January 2012, the firm merged with LarsonAllen and came to be known as CliftonLarsonAllen. In 2023, CLA generated $1.5bn in revenue in the United States, with about 38% of that coming from its tax services.
Crowe Horwath
Rounding off the list of top 10 US firms, is Crowe Horwath. Previously known as Crowe Chizek, the group was established in South Bend, Indiana, in 1942 by Fred P. Crowe Sr. and Cletus F. Chizek. Through expansion and mergers in the ‘80s, Crowe offices were established in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Oak Brook, Illinois and Columbus, Ohio. As the firm kept expanding throughout the US, the firm started, Crowe began practising under the name Crowe LLP from 2010 onwards. The firm also debuted on the prestigious Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list in 2018.
Crowe launched the Crowe Hive, a social network for healthcare professionals to interact and collaborate in a safe and trusted digital environment in 2020. For the third consecutive year, Crowe was named to the prestigious Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list.
Crowe reported $1.3bn in revenue for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023. The firm and its affiliates have more than 5,000 personnel in 39 offices. Mark Baer serves as the firm’s chief executive officer (CEO), a role he took on in 2021. Brenda Torres serves as the firm’s chief operating officer (COO).
