Big4 Firms Make Top 250 in Latest Fortune 500 List

Fortune Magazine just released its Fortune 500 list of top US companies by revenue for the year 2008. Not surprisingly, the top companies in this list were oil giant Exxon at a staggering $443 billion, followed by ubiquitous Walmart at $406 billion, multinational oil companies Chevron at $263 billion & Chevron Phillips at $231 billion and international conglomerate GE at $183 billion. After the top ten, there is a steep drop with number 11 Bank of America at $113 billion and then down the list, number 50 Safeway with $44 billion, and then number 90 Alcoa with $28 billion.

And where do the giant Big4 accounting and consulting firms stand in this list? Now, given that these are private partnerships (except Accenture and Capgemini) and not the US publicly traded companies which are in the Fortune 500 list, but it is interesting to see that four of the Big4 firms made it to the top 100 and all six made it to the top 250.

Leading the Big4 list, PricewaterhouseCoopers with 2008 revenues of $28.2 billion stands tall between hospital operator number 88 HCA and chicken producer number 89 Tyson Foods. Close on PwC’s heels is Deloitte & Touche with 2008 revenues of $27.4 billion, between oil & gas producer number 93 Murphy Oil and electrical conglomerate number 94 Emerson Electric. Third in line is public company Accenture (which would have made this list, but its HQ is Hamilton, Bermuda, which is outside the USA) with 2008 revenues of $25.3 billion, ranked between electrical conglomerate number 94 Emerson Electric and industrial manufacturer number 95 3M. Just behind Accenture is Ernst & Young with 2008 revenues of $24.5 billion placing between paper giant number 97 International Paper and oil producer number 98 Occidental Petroleum.

Below the top 100 ranks are KPMG and Capgemini. KPMG, the smallest of the Big4 Accounting Firms with 2008 revenues of $22.7 billion stands between pharmaceutical company number 110 Wyeth and US airline number 111 Delta Airlines. Far below, but still in the top 250 rank is Capgemini with 2008 revenue of $11.6 billion between telecom company number 229 ITT and natural gas producer number 230 Chesapeake Energy.

This interesting compilation shows that Big4 firms are truly huge partnerships, perhaps some of the largest in the world, and rank among the largest companies in the US. Not only that, they are also extremely profitable with profits usually increasing proportionately with revenue. Compare this with the Fortune 500 whose total profit actually fell 87% from a whopping $645 billion in 2007 to a puny $99 billion in 2008. The Big4 firms clearly have no such troubling trends, the firms actually grew revenue double digits from 2007 to 2008, and while the growth from 2008 to 2009 may not be that high, there are no drastic falls in profits which may encumber some of their corporate peers.

The mega partnership model obviously works mainly in the low-capital intensive professional service sector, and the Big4 firms over a 100 years seem to have evolved a robust business model, which perhaps keeps them out of the Fortune 500 list but also out of the vagaries of profit fluctuations.

Here are the details:

88. HCA $28.4
PwC $28.2
89. Tyson Foods $28.1

93. Murphy Oil $27.5
Deloitte & Touche $27.4
94. Emerson Electric $25.3

94. Emerson Electric $25.3
Accenture $25.3
95. 3M $25.2

97. International Paper $24.8
Ernst & Young $24.5
98. Occidental Petroleum $24 .4

110. Wyeth $22.8
KPMG $22.7
111. Delta Airline $22.6

229. ITT $11.7
Capgemini $11.6
230. Chesapeake Energy $11.6