Diversity at the Big Four accounting/auditing firms in the U.S. - statistics and facts

The workforce of the Big Four accounting/auditing firms has increased significantly over the last several years. The number of employees working for the Big Four totaled almost 1.5 million people in 2022. Such large employment figures have resulted in these firms having a significant say in the world of accounting and auditing. As a result, there has been considerable public interest into equal employment opportunities and published diversity statistics. These are often referred to in the same bracket as environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategies that are designed to encourage companies to act responsibly. This increase in interest has not gone unnoticed by professional investors as they grew their ESG investments by almost 90 percent in 2022, with the leading reason for ESG investing being brand and reputation.

Gender diversity

On the surface level of gender diversity within the Big Four, there has been a relatively even share of men and women working for these firms. EY, for example, had a consistently even gender share of its total professional workforce over the last few years. It is when this statistic is broken down into administrative versus senior roles within the firm that the picture becomes somewhat more clear. More than three quarters of partners working for EY in the last year were men, whereas women made up almost 86 percent of administrative roles. The same has been true when compared to the percentage of female leaders at PwC.

Equal employment opportunity in the United States

Since 2008, the number of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforcement lawsuits in the United States have fallen by more than half. These figures have correlated with the widespread publishing of ESG reports following the United Nation's Principles for Responsible Investment in 2006 where the concept was first introduced. Despite this, a large gender wage gap has still existed in the United States, particularly in the professional and technical services industry. Furthermore, the median household income of both Black and Hispanic Americans has historically been considerably lower than that of white Americans.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text.
Published by Statista Research Department, Dec 18, 2023

Key insights

Combined revenue of the Big Four in the Americas region
97.64bn USD
Number of employees at Deloitte worldwide
456,826
Share of women working at Deloitte
46%
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Leading accounting firms in the United States from 2020 to 2023, by revenue (in billion U.S. dollars)

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Revenue of the Big Four accounting/audit firms worldwide in 2023, by geographical region (in billion U.S. dollars)

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Revenue of the Big Four accounting/audit firms worldwide by region 2023

Combined revenue of the Big Four accounting/audit firms worldwide from 2009 to 2023 (in billion U.S. dollars)

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