Who are the big 4?

PricewaterhouseCoopers
PwC (officially PricewaterhouseCoopers) is a global professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom.[2] It is the world's second-largest professional services firm (after Deloitte) and one of the 'Big Four' accountancy firms.[5]
It has offices in 757 cities across 151 countries and employs over 163,000 people.[4][6] It had total revenues of $26 billion in 2009, of which $13 billion was generated by its Assurance practice, $7 billion by its Tax practice and $6 billion by its Advisory practice.[4]
The firm was formed in 1998 by a merger between Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand.[1] The trading name was shortened to PwC in September 2010 as part of a major rebranding exercise.[7]
As of 2009 it was the eighth largest privately-owned organisation in the United States.[8]
PricewaterhouseCoopers Website


Ernst & Young
Ernst & Young (EY) is one of the largest professional services firms in the world and one of the Big Four auditors, along with Deloitte, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
Ernst & Young is a global organization of member firms in more than 140 countries. Its global headquarters are based in London, UK and the U.S. firm is headquartered at 5 Times Square, New York, New York.[3]
As of 2009, it is ranked by Forbes magazine the 10th largest private company in the United States.[4]


Deloitte
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (also branded as Deloitte) is the largest professional services organization in the world.[2] According to the organization's website as of 2010, Deloitte has approximately 170,000 staff at work in more than 150 countries, delivering audit, tax, consulting, enterprise risk, and financial advisory services through its member firms.
Its global headquarters is located in Paramount Plaza, Midtown Manhattan, New York City, New York.[3]


KPMG
KPMG is one of the largest professional services firms in the world and one of the Big Four auditors, along with Deloitte, Ernst & Young (EY) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Its global headquarters are located in Amstelveen, Netherlands.[1]
KPMG employs 140,000 people[3] and has three lines of services: audit, tax, and advisory.


Firm / Revenues /Employees/Fiscal Year/Headquarters/Source
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu $26.578bn 170,000 2010 United States [1]
PwC (officially PricewaterhouseCoopers) $26.569bn 162,000 2010 United Kingdom [2]
Ernst & Young $21.255bn 141,000 2010 United Kingdom [3]
KPMG $20.11bn 135,000 2009 The Netherlands [4]

How's all the other firms coming along in terms of staffing? PwC Assurance is suffering massive staff shortages presently, with all the resignees timing their resignation just before the superpeak starts.

Some stress related syndromes, I think? But as far as I know they have not rejected anyone due to health screenings.

Exam season. Pretty damn quiet these days

in EY/KPMG now is getting peak and FS (those with bank negara submissions), now should be quite peak.

For the rest of us, Jan-April is considered the peak.... But again, highly depends on the client portfolio you have.

Hahaha hard pressed to find an IT advisory dude like urself here Not all of us know about the kinds of things u do

wow =D

Plenty. I'm one myself. I made people resign before. Wanna try?

Let's just say the 'resignation' was an 'outcome'. It's not something I deliberately planned to do, but the process of how we work, contributed to it.

1. Work late hours. (duh. if you're not smart, be ready to put in the hours to make up for it) You may think it's not a big deal. You've partied and studied long hours. Well, nothing's prepared you for this. The long hours will grind you, strangle you, and slowly bore itself into you like water eroding away the shore. The sheer volume of work will find away to drive you restless, and it will cause you to lose sleep, even when you have time for it. And as time ticks away, and the stress and late hours start to creep onto your face...

2. Expected to learn fast, and be ready to be corrected. (generally from what I observe, most people feel stupid and useless after working with me (not deliberately, just that i talk too fast)...) And when you're not used to getting told that you're wrong, that you've made mistakes etc, you'll crack. Slowly. Inferiority complex will start creeping in, and you'll start having an existential crisis wondering what did you dug yourself into. You'll ask whether accounting is right for you....

3. Have some f*cking business/common sense. (not something that can be taught, but be prepared to get some snide remarks from your clients and your bosses when u ask something that has no common sense) This usually comes with the above.

4. Watching your batchmates who can't endure as well as you, leave.
You'll start to feel lonely. You'll feel as if everyone's out to get you.

Not long

Interestingly, I heard fresh new joiners are getting close to 3k in EY/KPMG. Anyone can confirm these hearsays?

So when are you jumping over to SG?
The drought will only get worse.

Good luck guys. H&S is number 1 priority.

Erm, go singapore go singapore. pay is much better, client is more competent, deadlines are worse, and life just overall sucks a bit more.

PEAK PERIOD. STRESSSS

Yes.

Nah. Only my 3rd.

Which is what's happening to my associate now. T__T

hahha advisory is fine throughout the year

Erm, from what I know, first class honours from a well known uni. (OBU don't count)

Forensic audit eh! Glamour, but I think it's really hard work.

Find out what are the major clients of the dept u are joining, then pick a place around there.

That's pretty silly because every 9/10 ppl in PwC assurance probably hates to work in audit in general (not specifically PwC), so i think his boss probably hates it too (and while I'm at it, i hate it too).

Try look me up, which dept are u anyway? I'm in CIPS, one of the soon-to-be-leaving SAs.