Accounting: employees at the leading firms 2023

Unsurprisingly the Big Four accounting firms – Deloitte, PwC, EY and KPMG – maintained the largest workforces of the accounting firms in the United States in 2023, ranging from Deloitte with approximately 171,000 staff to KPMG with their workforce of roughly 50,300. Outside of the Big Four there is a significant drop to the next-largest U.S. accounting firm, RSM, who employed 17,085 U.S. staff.

Accounting firm structure

Most accounting firms divide their employees into partners, professional staff and administrative staff. Partners sit atop the hierarchy, and can be either equity partners or salaried partners. Equity partners do not receive a fixed salary, instead owning part of the business. This entitles them to a proportion of the distributable profits. Conversely, salaried partners receive a fixed remuneration like other employees, but are often entitled to bonuses based on the firm’s profitability. Next in the hierarchy are professional staff, who are qualified to provide the specific services offered by the firm (for example, accountancy services or taxation advice). Finally there are administrative staff, who provide support to professional staff and partners. Generally the majority of employees are professional staff. In 2023, for example, Deloitte comprised of almost 80 percent professionals.

The Big Four versus the rest

The distance between the Big Four accounting firms and the others is also reflected in revenue figures , where the gap is even greater than for employee numbers. However, this gap can sometimes mask the size and success of the smaller accountancy firms. RSM reported a global revenue of over seven billion U.S. dollars in 2021, and have grown consistently for each of the last six years. Similarly, BDO reported a global revenue of almost 13 billion U.S. dollars in 2022, following a period of consistent growth.