Big Four accounting firms
Largest global accounting networks
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| 2020 | KPMG International changed its legal structure from a Swiss co-operative to a UK limited company. |
| November 2020 | Wirecard was sold to Santander Bank for €100 million following its collapse. |
| September 2020 | Deloitte was fined £15 million by the Financial Reporting Council for insufficient professional skepticism in auditing Autonomy's financial statements from 2009 to 2011. |
| July 2020 | The UK Financial Reporting Council mandates that the Big Four must submit plans to separate their audit and consultancy operations by 2024. |
| June 2020 | EY was accused of poor auditing for failing to discover €1.9 billion missing at Wirecard AG, which led to the company's collapse. |
| January 2020 | PwC faced allegations of potential conflict of interest in its audit of Sonangol, having dual roles as both auditor and consultant. |
| September 2019 | Bloomberg News reported that the Big Four controlled 95% of the FTSE 250 audit market by client numbers and 96% by market capitalization. |
| 2018 | An Australian parliamentary committee was informed that heads of the Big Four firms regularly met for dinners, leading to an Australian Competition & Consumer Commission inquiry into potential collusion. |
| October 2018 | The UK's Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) announces a detailed study of the Big Four's dominance in the audit sector. |
| September 2018 | Business Secretary Greg Clark requested the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to conduct an inquiry into competition in the audit sector. |
| May 16 2018 | A Parliamentary inquiry report accused the Big Four accounting firms of being a 'cosy club', specifically criticizing KPMG and Deloitte for their roles in the Carillion collapse. |
| February 13 2018 | MP Frank Field criticized the Big Four firms, describing them as 'feasting on what was soon to become a carcass' after collecting £72m in fees from Carillion before its collapse. |
| January 2018 | The collapse of UK construction company Carillion raised significant questions about the Big Four accounting firms, who had previously advised the company. |
| 2016 | Deloitte reclaimed the title of largest of the Big Four firms, largely due to strategic acquisitions. |
| 2013 | Deloitte and PwC were extremely close in revenue, with only a $200 million difference, representing less than half a percent gap. |
| 2012 | The Big Four accounting firms were estimated to control approximately 67% of the global accountancy market. |
| 2011 | PwC regained first place with 10% revenue growth. |
| 2011 | The UK House of Lords completed an inquiry into the financial crisis and called for an Office of Fair Trading investigation into the dominance of the Big Four accounting firms. |
| 2011 | PwC regained first place with 10% revenue growth, surpassing Deloitte. |
| 2011 | A report reveals the Big Four accounting firms audit 99% of FTSE 100 companies and 96% of FTSE 250 companies in the United Kingdom. |
| February 2011 | Irish Director of Corporate Enforcement Paul Appleby criticized the Big Four auditing firms for reporting very few company law offences, with their reporting rate as low as 5%. |
| 2010 | Deloitte outpaced PricewaterhouseCoopers with 1.8% growth, becoming the largest firm in the professional services industry. |
| June 2010 | Documents revealed that some UK companies' banking covenants required them to use one of the Big Four accounting firms, potentially preventing smaller firms from competing for audit work. |
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