Understanding Business Accounting For Dummies, 2nd Edition (114 page)

All businesses whose ownership units (shares) are traded in public markets in the UK, the US, and most other countries with major stock markets are required to have annual audits by independent auditors. Every stock you see listed on the LSE (London Stock Exchange), the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange), NASDAQ (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations), and other stock-trading markets must be audited by an outside accountancy firm. The Big Four international accountancy firms are household names in the business world. (Big Five until Arthur Andersen sank in the wake of the Enron debacle.)

The Big Four are:

Ernst & Young

PricewaterhouseCoopers
(all one word, with the C capitalised, being the result of the merger of two firms)

Deloitte & Touche

KPMG
(the only one of the five firm names having only letters; the PM in the name derives from an earlier time when ‘Peat Marwick' was part of the firm's name)

The next ten accountancy firms, in terms of size are:

Grant Thornton

BDO Stoy Hayward

Baker Tilly

Smith & Williamson

PKF

Tenon Group

Moore Stephens

Mazars

Vantis