Top 10 Accounting Firms in The World (2023) (2024)

Who are the top 10 accounting firms in the world in 2023? The big 4 accounting firms are at the top of the list followed by the mid tier accounting firms. Which mid tier accounting firms made the list of the largest public accounting firms this year.

The top 10 largest accounting firms by revenue:

1. Deloitte – $64.9 billion (Deloitte Info)
2. PwC – $53 billion (PwC Info)
3. EY – $49.4 billion (EY Info)
4. KPMG – $34.64 billion (KPMG Info)
5. BDO – $12.8 billion (BDO Accounting Firm Information)
6. RSM $8 billion
7. Grant Thornton – $6.6 billion
8. Nexia International $5 billion
9. Crowe Horwath $ 4.3 billion
10. Baker Tilly $4.3 billion

1. Deloitte

Deloitte is ranked number one with revenues of $59 billion of revenue in fiscal year 2022.

Deloitte earned $46.2 billion for their 2019 fiscal year.

Deloitte was also ranked number one with revenues of $43.2 billion for their 2018 fiscal year.

They were able to pass PwC in 2016. They ranked behind PwC for their 2015 revenues.

2. PwC

The aforementioned PwC comes in at number 2 on the top 10 accounting firms ranking.

PwC earned 50.3 billion in revenue. This puts them behind the $59 billion of revenue that Deloitte generated.

PwC made 45 billion in 2020.

They made $42.4 billion in revenue for 2019 and 40.7 billion in 2018.

They made $37.7 billion in revenue for 2017.

They made $35.9 billion in revenue for 2016.

3. EY

Ernst and Young comes in at number 3. EY is usually at number 3 because they are usually several billion dollars behind PwC and Deloitte. Their audit practices and consulting practices are not as robust as Deloitte and PwC. That is why they lag behind their peers.

Ey earned revenues of $36.4 billion in 2019.

EY earned revenues of $34.8 billion in 2018.

EY earned revenues of $31.4 billion in 2017.

EY earned revenues of $29.6 billion in 2016.

EY has 284,000 professionals around the globe as well.

4. KPMG

KPMG rounds out the top 4 accounting firms.

KPMG earned revenues of $29.75 billion for their 2019 fiscal year.

KPMG earned revenues of $28.96 billion for their 2018 fiscal year.

KPMG earned revenues of $26.4 billion for their 2017 fiscal year.

KPMG earned revenues of $25.42 billion for their 2016 fiscal year.

KPMG has the least amount of employees in the big 4 with 219,000.

You will see a large drop off from KPMG to the next accounting firm because of their global reach. The reason the big four accounting firms are considered the big four is because the next closest accounting firm isn’t really that close in terms of revenue or number of employees.

5. BDO

BDO is the fifth largest accounting firm in the world.

They earned $8.1 billion for their fiscal year ended September 30, 2017.

They earned $7.6 billion for their fiscal year ended September 30, 2016.

BDO attributes their growth in 2016 to strategic mergers that occurred. In order for BDO to catch up to the big 4 accountancy firms they will have to continue merging internationally. It is the global presence that makes the big four the big 4.

BDO operates in over 150 countries in the world. The number of employees working at BDO was 67,731. BDO has 1,401 offices across the globe.

6. RSM

RSM is the sixth largest accounting firm of the top 10 accounting firms in the world.

They earned $8 billion for the fiscal year ended December 2022.

They earned revenues of $5.1 billion for their fiscal year ended December 31, 2017.

They earned revenues of $4.87 billion for their fiscal year ended December 31, 2016.

As you might remember RSM launched their global brand recently in October 2015. The global brand has helped RSM reach the number sixth spot in the top 10 biggest accounting firms.

RSM has more than 41,420 employees working across their 793 offices.

7. Grant Thornton

Grant Thornton is the seventh largest accounting firm with revenues of $5 billion in 2017. The number of employees at Grant Thornton grew to 47,000 in 2016.

Grant Thornton operates in over 130 countries across the world.

Grant Thornton’s revenue by region were as follows

Africa – $98 million

Americas – $2,261 million

Asia Pacific – $692 million

CIS – $31 million

Europe – $1,667 million

Middle East – $40 million

8. Nexia International

Nexia has moved up to the 8th largest accounting firm in the world with $4.5 billion in revenue. The number of employees working at Nexia International was around 34,000.

Nexia has 2,594 partners working around the world.

Nexia earns 50% of their revenue in North America, 43% in Europe, Middle East, & Africa, 6% in Asia Pacific and 1% in South America.

Nexia earns 45% of their revenue from audit work, 26% from tax services and 29% from advisory services.

9. Crowe Horwath

Crowe Horwath is the ninth largest accounting firm of the top 10 accounting firms in the world with $3.8 billion in revenue. Crowe Horwath moved ahead of Baker Tilly with their 2016 financial results.

Crowe Horwath has 216 member firms and operations in 129 countries. They have over 760 offices around the world.

Crowe Horwath has 35,327 employees around the world. 3,860 of those employees are partners and 26,447 are staff personnel.

10.Baker Tilly

Baker Tilly is the ninth largest accounting firm in the world. Their most recent fiscal year has them earning $3.4 billion in revenue. Baker Tilly has 30,490 professionals around the world.

They operate in over 147 countries.