Number of employees at the leading accounting firms in the U.S. 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 structureMost 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 restThe 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.

不出所料，四大审计公司——德勤、普华永道、安永及毕马威——在2023年继续保持着美国审计公司中最大的员工队伍，其规模从德勤的约17.1万名员工到毕马威的约5.03万名员工不等。在四大之外，美国第二大审计公司RSM的员工人数有显著下降，其雇佣了17,085名美国员工。审计公司结构大多数审计公司将员工分为合伙人、专业人员和行政人员。合伙人在等级体系中位居顶层，可以是权益合伙人或薪金合伙人。权益合伙人不领取固定薪水，而是拥有企业的一部分所有权，从而有权获得可分配利润的一部分。相反，薪金合伙人如同其他员工一样，领取固定薪酬，但通常有权根据公司的盈利状况获得奖金。在等级体系中下一级的是专业人员，他们具备提供公司所提供特定服务（例如会计服务或税务咨询）的资格。最后是行政人员，他们为专业人员和合伙人提供支持。通常，员工中的大多数是专业人员。例如，在2023年，德勤的专业人员占比接近80%。四大与其他公司的差距也体现在收入数据上，收入差距甚至比员工数量差距更大。然而，这种差距有时会掩盖小型会计师事务所的规模和成功。RSM在2021年报告的全球收入超过70亿美元，并且在过去六年中持续稳定增长。类似地，BDO在2022年报告的全球收入接近130亿美元，这也是在一段持续增长期之后的成果。