Big Four accounting firms make $4 bn from India biz; expand into consulting

As Indian companies look to professionalise their decision-making and invest in technologies, the Big Four accounting firms have reached a record $4 billion annual revenue through their local operations, The Economic Times (ET) has reported. The term "Big Four" refers to the Big Four accounting firms, namely Deloitte, Ernst & Young (EY), KPMG, and PwC. This indicates a deepening of the corporate relationships between Indian companies and accounting firms beyond audits and taxation support, the newspaper reported.

The combined revenue of these four accounting firms EY, KPMG, Deloitte, and PwC has gone beyond Rs 32,700 crore during the last year. The number underlines the expanding scope of services offered by the Big Four in India. The development is significant given India's position among the top three in the world regarding the number of listed companies.

Big Four expanding in the consulting space

The Big Four firms are known to operate in the domain of audit and tax services, whereas firms like MBB (McKinsey, BCG, and Bain) operate in the realm of strategy consulting. However, the Big Four have overhauled their operations over the past few years to gain a wider share in the high-demand advisory and technology services firms. The rapid expansion of technology in the workplace in the post-Covid era has accentuated the transformation. As things stand, the Big Four generate more than half of their revenue from advisory services, the ET report highlighted.

Big Four to play a pivotal role in India Inc expansion

Expressing his thoughts on the subject, Chairman and CEO of PwC India, Sanjeev Krishan told The Economic Times, "Corporations, public and private, have been dealing with a significant amount of disruption over the last few years and this has given us an opportunity to be a part of their transformation journey to both create value and/or prevent value loss."
 

As Indian companies expand their operations as they achieve economic growth, mid-level companies expand their reach, and new firms and startups raise capital to expand, the Big Four firms are expected to do even better and are likely to play an important role in providing financial and advisory expertise to India Inc, the ET report stated.