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Vault Rankings

Apparently Interns Are Flocking to PwC to Learn More About … HR

Getting an internship at PwC is a pretty big deal for college students looking to pursue a career in accounting or consulting. But in human resources? Apparently so, according to the latest ranking of the best HR internships for 2023 by Vault and Firsthand. Only five companies’ internship programs made the list for 2023. Coming […]

How Do Big 4 Consulting Internships Stack Up Against MBB?

McKinsey, Bain, and Boston Consulting Group—the Nos. 2, 1, and 3 best consulting firms to work for, respectively, in 2022, according to Vault and Firsthand—either have really crappy internship programs or didn’t want to participate in Firsthand’s internship survey because MBB is not among the top 15 consulting firms that provide the best experiences for […]

2023 Accounting Internship Programs, Ranked

A Palo Alto, CA-based CPA firm that most of you guys have never heard of has the top accounting internship program in the U.S. and the second-best overall internship program in the country, according to Vault-Firsthand’s ranking of the top internship programs in the U.S. for 2023. Vault-Firsthand said this about the summer internship program […]

PwC Finishes First In Vault’s Accounting Firm Prestige Ranking For the Gazillionth Time (2023)

Another year, another first-place finish for PwC in Vault’s ranking of the most prestigious public accounting firms. At this point, you can just pencil in PwC as being the most prestigious firm now until the end of time. If a firm was to eventually unseat PwC in prestige, it would be as big of an […]

PwC Does Not Relinquish Top Spot In Vault Accounting 25 (2023)

Vault today released its newest ranking of the best public accounting firms to work for, and it’s a slimmed-down version for 2023: the number of firms ranked went from 50 (as has been the case for many years) to 25. But one thing remains constant: PwC is No. 1. This is the 10th straight year […]

Listicle of the Day: Firms That Have Topped the Vault Accounting 50/25 Through the Years

Except for 2012 when the Purple Rose of Chicago shockingly was named the best accounting firm to work for, a Big 4 firm has been ranked No. 1 in all the other Vault Accounting 50s. And even though Vault’s latest ranking for 2023, released earlier today, includes only 25 firms instead of 50, a Big […]

Vault Consulting 50: How Did the Big 4 Do In Key Employment Categories? (2022)

Last month we dove into the 2022 Vault rankings of the best consulting firms to work for and the consulting firms with the most prestige, with an eye on how the Big 4 firms fared in each. Today we’re going to wrap up our coverage of the 2022 Vault Consulting 50 by looking at which […]

Vault 50: Deloitte Consulting Still Has the Prestige Factor Going For Them (2022)

Yesterday we recapped the 2022 Vault ranking of the best consulting firms to work for and the lack of a Big 4 presence in the top 10, including Deloitte Consulting, which went from fourth in 2020 (highest among the Big 4 consulting practices) to 11th in 2022. But despite Deloitte Consulting now paying the price […]

2022 Accounting Internship Programs, Ranked

Winter is coming, and new stars will soon be born in public accounting as the latest wave of interns are about to flock to a windowless cubicle near you. And just in time for the arrival of this latest group of fresh, smiling-faced youngsters is Firsthand’s (formerly Vault.com) ranking of the top accounting internship programs […]

Vault Accounting 50: No Stopping PwC In Latest Prestige Rankings (2022)

In the 16 years that Vault has ranked public accounting firms by prestige, only three firms have taken the title of “most prestigious”: EY (2007), Deloitte (2009), and PwC (2008; 2010-current). With the release of Vault’s 2022 Accounting 50 last week, that’s 13 straight years now that PwC has been viewed by accountants as the […]

Vault Accounting 50: PwC Remains No. 1; Top 5 SALY (2022)

How much do Big 4 people really care about Vault’s annual Accounting 50? PwC, Deloitte, and KPMG and their employees probably care way more about the ranking than EY and its employees because those firms routinely comprise the top three positions. EY, on the other hand, hasn’t participated in Vault’s annual survey of accounting professionals […]

Vault Consulting 50: Somehow Deloitte Still Has Prestige On Its Side (2021)

It was big news around these parts when we found out Deloitte Consulting was kicked off the Big 4 throne by EY-Parthenon in Vault’s most recent ranking of the 50 best consulting firms to work for. Deloitte had held down fourth place (No. 1 among the Big 4) for five consecutive years, so it was […]

2021 Accounting Internship Programs, Ranked

Hey wannabe public accountants, Vault today released its ranking of the best accounting firms for interns in 2021, and of the 15 firms included, two are in the Big 4 while five others are among the top 15 largest firms in the U.S. More than 11,000 current and former interns were surveyed earlier this summer […]

Vault 2021 Rankings: These Accounting Firms Supposedly Care the Most About Diversity

One of the more interesting categories under the “Best Accounting Firms to Work For” portion of Vault’s accounting rankings each year is diversity. Pretty much all large-to-midsize accounting firms these days tout their diversity initiatives. But which firms actually walk the talk? Knocking KPMG out of the No. 1 spot in Vault’s 2021 overall diversity […]

Vault 2021 Rankings: Plante Moran Has Got a Hang of This Work/Life Balance Thing

As part of its annual Accounting 50 extravaganza, Vault comes out with rankings of accounting firms in 18 quality-of-life categories that fall under its “Best Accounting Firms to Work For” section. One of those categories is work/life balance. Based on the results of a survey sent to more than 10,000 accounting professionals, there are 25 […]

Vault Accounting 50: PwC Is Still the Most Prestigious Firm In the Land (2021)

There wasn’t much that changed in Vault’s 2021 ranking of the most prestigious accounting firms, at least in the top 25. PwC was named the most prestigiousiest firm for the 12th straight year, the Big 4 took the top four spots once again, and the same firms that filled up the top 25 in 2020’s […]

PwC Continues to Dominate Vault Accounting 50 (2021)

Not even a pandemic, the likes of which we’ve never seen, could stop the folks at Vault from releasing its 2021 Accounting 50 today. But if you were hoping for a firm other than PwC to take the top spot in the latest Vault ranking of the top accounting firms in the U.S., well, you’ll […]

2020 Accounting Internship Programs, Ranked

Did anyone else notice that Vault released its 2020 accounting firm rankings and accounting internship program rankings on the two biggest tax days of the year? The Vault Accounting 50 almost always comes out on April 15, and its latest ranking of the best accounting internships came out on Oct. 15. Coincidence? Probably … or […]

Vault 50: Big 4 Among the Most Prestigious Consulting Firms (2020)

While you guys were wasting billable hours yesterday still debating which fast-food restaurant has the best fried chicken sandwich, we posted an article about the latest Vault Consulting 50 rankings and how the Big 4 did pretty well. If you missed it because you were trying to hunt down a Popeyes fried chicken sandwich, all […]

Vault 2020 Firm Rankings: Forensic Accounting FTW

Happy Monday, gang. Today, we’re going to take a look at Vault’s 2020 ranking of the “Best Accounting Firms for Forensic Accounting.” We wanted to give some love to these number-crunching crime fighters who helped take down Paul Manafort and bust idiot celebrities who illegally tried to get their wannabe-celebrity children admitted into elite universities […]

kpmg china medical

Vault 2020 Firm Rankings: KPMG Is the Diversitiest of the Big 4

We’ve given KPMG a lot of shit on this site recently, and rightly so. But we’re going to throw the House of Klynveld a bone today, as there’s some good news to report: KPMG nearly swept the diversity categories in Vault’s “Best Accounting Firms” rankings. Let’s not kid ourselves, though: The accounting profession is still […]

Vault 2020 Firm Rankings: Culture, Leadership, Relationships with Supervisors, and Work/Life Balance

Hey, guys. Hope you all had a nice, relaxing holiday weekend. As you know, Mondays after a holiday weekend suck, especially if you hate your job. But there are accounting professionals out there who were probably champing at the bit to come to work today because they actually enjoy being there and being around their […]

Vault 2020 Firm Rankings: Benefits, Comp, Vacation, and Promotion Policies

Earlier this week, we wrote about PwC’s continued dominance on Vault’s Accounting 50 and most prestigious firm rankings. Today, we’re going to focus on four of the 18 “quality of life” rankings that fall under Vault’s latest “Best Accounting Firms to Work For” section. And these four categories are near and dear to your heart: […]

You’ll Have to Pry Vault’s ‘Most Prestigious Firm’ Title Out of PwC’s Cold, Dead Hands

A little while ago, we told you how PwC locked down the top spot in Vault’s 2020 Accounting 50—the seventh consecutive year the firm has been ranked No. 1.  But believe it or not, this isn’t the longest win streak P. Dubs has going when it comes to Vault’s rankings. Even though the House of […]

PwC Once Again Tops Vault Accounting 50 (2020)

It’s one of our favorite times of the year at GC HQ when our friends at Vault put out their yearly rankings of the top accounting firms in the U.S. in several categories. But for now, we’re going to focus on the overall top 50 ranking. The No. 1 firm in the U.S. for 2020, […]

2019 Accounting Internship Programs, Ranked

Ah, internships: where bright-eyed, eager, budding capital market servants get their first taste of the hell that is a career in public accounting. But which accounting internship programs are the most popular among college students? Our friends at Vault have the answer. Vault recently released its top internship program rankings for 2019 in a bunch […]

These 1-Star Reviews of Accounting Firms Are The Saddest, Best

Vault put out its Accounting 50 today and shrug. It's fine if you like rankings and things. For me, the real gems are the employee reviews that are buried deep in the site. And, naturally, when I say "reviews" I'm talking about negative reviews. Now, it should be noted that the vast majority of the […]

PwC Tops Vault Rankings Once Again For Prestige, Conceit

Vault has been teasing us for weeks with the promise of their annual Accounting 50. It's finally here, and we'll get to that in a minute but before we delve into the full ranking, let's celebrate #1 PwC once again: Not only did New York-headquartered PwC again rank No. 1 in the Accounting 50 (and thus […]

PwC’s Transparency Gives Its Employees the Warm Fuzzies

Yesterday we discussed the Vault business outlook rankings for public accounting firms. In general, I thought that mid-tier firms have a sunnier horizon than the Big 4 firms, with the obvious exception of PwC. That exception seemed odd to me, so I shot a question over to Derek Loosvelt who did the write-up on the Accounting […]

Mid-tier Accounting Firms Have Much Brighter Futures Than the Big 4

One of the more interesting Vault rankings is the "Best to Work For: Business Outlook" list. All of the BtWF rankings have 20 firms listed, and that seems like overkill. Really, they could cut it off at ten and I think the list would have a more exclusive air to it, so that's what I'll […]

PwC Tops Vault Accounting 50 (2014)

After a couple of interesting teasers on LGBT relations and satisfaction among women, our friends at Vault have unveiled their Accounting 50 ranking today. The results will probably annoy many of you because, yes, PwC topped the three big categories in Vault's 2014 rankings — Overall Ranking, Prestige, and Diversity. 

PwC’s Prestige Will Take a Backseat to No Firm

On Tuesday, Ernst & Young became the third surprise victor in the Vault Accounting 50; the first Big 4 firm to take the honor since the change in methodology for the 2011 list. It's a comeback of sorts for E&Y who has basically been the butt of many, many, many Lehman Brothers jokes. For some […]

Ernst & Young Tops Vault’s Accounting 50 (2013)

Imagine my surprise when a link to the 2013 Vault Accounting 50 found its way to our tip box. It comes to us five months earlier than last year and I really didn't expect to see all of the Big 4 in the type five, especially the likes of E&Y and KPMG who were doing well […]

Comp Watch: Vault Ranks the Firms That Give You the Most Bang for Your Buck

All of you people have dreams. Not your-name-in-lights dreams, however. Most of you are more interested in shopping-at-Bergdorf’s dreams. But which firm is going to give you the best combination of salary/bonus/Omaha Steaks to make you happy? Vault’s Compensation Ranking should give you an idea. Here’s your Top 5 out of 20 (previous year’s ranking in parenthesis):

1 (11) SS&G Financial Services
2 (5) Armanino McKenna
3 (8) WithumSmith + Brown
4 (7) Dixon Hughes Goodman
5 (1) Marcum


Where are the Final 4 Horsemen of the Accounting Firm Apocalypse, you ask? Well, a couple of them are completely MIA. Here are the other two plus some notables:

9 (10) Rothstein Kass
10 (NR) Grant Thornton
14 (19) CBIZ/Mayer Hoffman McCann
15 (18) Moss Adams
19 (20) PwC
20 (17) Deloitte

Seriously, I think Stephen Chipman is putting something in the water at Grant Thornton. Whatever it is, KPMG and E&Y would be wise to get their hands on it. Check out the full ranking if you’re not satisfied. And feel free to share feelings on your firm’s presence (or lack thereof).

Accounting Firms Rankings 2012: Best to Work For: Compensation [Vault]

PwC Won’t Allow an Upset in Vault’s Prestige Rankings

Earlier this week, we learned that Grant Thornton was the new numero uno on Vault’s Accounting 50. The VA50 is determined by a number metrics that are weighted to come up with an overall score as to which firm is the best of the best. According to Vault, Grant Thornton was able to leverage their better work-life balance for employees to overcome their lack of prestige to pull this off.

For many people in the accounting world, however, this is meaningless. Reputation is everything and if you’re not working for one of the firms that are of highest regard, you’re simply a chump. Accordingly, Vault still presents a prestige ranking and while there aren’t many surprises, for many, this is the list. And the top firm on the list? P. Dubs.

1 (1) PwC
2 (3) Deloitte
3 (2) Ernst & Young
4 (4) KPMG
5 (5) Grant Thornton


6 (7) McGladrey
7 (6) BDO
8 (8) Moss Adams
9 (10) J.H. Cohn
10 (9) Plante & Moran
11 (13) Crowe Horwath
12 (12) Clifton Gunderson
13 (11) EisnerAmper
14 (22) LarsonAllen
15 (14) Rothstein Kass
16 (15) BKD
17 (18) Baker Tilly Virchow Krause
18 (16) Reznick Group
19 (21) Dixon Hughes Goodman
20 (19) Cherry Bekaert & Holland
21 (24) Anchin, Block & Anchin
22 (17) WeiserMazars
23 (23) CBIZ/Mayer Hoffman McCann
24 (29) ParenteBeard
25 (28) Wipfli
26 (31) Friedman
27 (27) Marcum
28 (34) Berdon
29 (35) Citrin Cooperman & Co.
30 (36) Eide Bailly
31 (26) UHY Advisors
32 (37) WithumSmith + Brown
33 (32) Elliot Davis
34 (38) Margolin, Winer & Evens
35 (33) Marks Paneth & Shron
36 (40) Blackman Kallick
37 (25) Novogradac & Company
38 (49) RubinBrown
39 (NR) Schonbraun McCann Group
40 (50) Kaufman, Rossin & Co.
41 (NR) Lattimore Black Morgan & Cain
42 (45) Frank Rimerman & Co.
42 (48) Habif, Arogeti & Wynne
43 (NR) Buff Pilger Mayer, Inc.
44 (NR) Horne
45 (NR) Rehmann
46 (NR) Schenck SC
46 (NR) Suby, Von Haden & Associates
46 (NR) Ehrhardt Keefe Steiner & Hottman
47 (41) Aronson & Company
48 (NR) SingerLewak
49 (47) SS&G Financial Services
50 (NR) Katz, Sapper & Miller

Oh! and probably most importantly, the prestige ranking is what we use to seed the brackets for the Coolest Accounting Firm in the spring, so it’s doubly important. Commence bickering.

Grant Thornton Tops Vault’s Accounting 50 (2012)

Yes my friends, the Purple Rose of Chicago’s focus on all things dynamic and pinstripe hating was enough to catapult the firm to the #1 spot on Vault’s Accounting 50. Varnton’s rise “an upset of sorts” but I’ll go ahead and say this is more worthy of “shocker” status. This is like “Dewey Defeats Truman.” It’s the Miracle on Ice. Hell, it’s like when Brad Pitt finds Gwenyth Paltrow’s head at the end of Se7en (what do you MEAN you haven’t seen it?).

Don’t get me wrong, Grant Thornton is a fine firm. Sure, purple isn’t my favorite but the people there seem nice and very capable but HONESTLY this was not expected. When he hears the news, Stephen Chipman will probably start running through halls of the Chicago office sans pants trousers rallying everyone down to the nearest pub (pictures, please). Anyway, let’s get to the Top 25 (previous year in parenthesis), shall we?

1 (23) Grant Thornton
2 (2) PwC
3 (1) Deloitte
4 (3) Rothstein Kass
5 (5) Dixon Hughes Goodman


6 (6) Moss Adams
7 (11) WithumSmith + Brown
8 (8) Friedman
9 (4) Marcum
10 (28) EisnerAmper
11 (14) Eide Bailly
12 (18) SS&G Financial Services
13 (12) Berdon
14 (7) Elliott Davis
15 (NR) Rehmann
16 (33) Baker Tilly Virchow Krause
17 (17) Armanino McKenna
18 (16) CBIZ/Mayer Hoffman McCann
19 (41) Marks Paneth & Shron
20 (20) Schenck
21 (10) Cherry, Bekaert & Holland
22 (21) Ernst & Young
23 (22) KPMG
24 (25) McGladrey
25 (24) BDO

As for how GT orchestrated this epic upset, here’s Vault’s Derek Loosvelt:

Although the Big Four firms PwC and Deloitte both significantly outscored Grant Thornton (the perennial fifth largest accounting firm in the country) in terms of prestige, Grant Thornton handily beat PwC and Deloitte in nearly every quality of life category. In other words, while the two Big Four firms’ names still carry much more weight than Grant Thornton’s in the marketplace, insiders are much more pleased with their day to day work lives at the non-Big Four GT than their peers are at PwC and Deloitte. In fact, non-Big Four firms ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in all but three quality of life categories (these rankings will be released over the next couple of days). Although Grant Thornton did not top any single category, it consistently placed ahead of PwC and Deloitte. Particular tough categories for the Big Four firms were hours and overall satisfaction.

So there are a couple of stories here: 1) Holy shit – Grant Thornton?! and 2) prestige seems to carry less and less weight in favor of quality of life for those looking to choose a public accounting firm as their employer. We’ll be covering the Vault list and the firms therein with more posts but until then, feel free to comment on the Top 25 and what you make of GT as the new #1.

50 Most Prestigious Accounting Firms [Vault]
Vault’s New Accounting 50 Ranking Has Plenty of Surprises [GC]

Presenting Going Concern March Madness: The Coolest Accounting Firm

Now that the Sweet Sixteen is set, the general consensus here at Going Concern is to take advantage of the combination of March Madness and the plight of busy season. Accordingly, we bring you the first ever edition of GC March Madness: Coolest Accounting Firm. Inspired by our sister from another mister, ATL, we’ve decided that we’re looking to the GC readers to determining which accounting firm is the coolest of the cool by way of a democratic process but utilizing the seasonally appropriate method of a bracket. We opted with the prestige rankings determined by Vault to determine the seeds because…well, Vault has a prestige ranking and if we tried to come with a similar list ourselves, there would be rampant speculation of bias that we’re not prepared to address (plus we’re pulling this together on fairly short notice). If you don’t like your firm’s seed – or your firm is shut out of the tournament altogether – we suggest you speak up in next year’s Vault rankings.

Now, then. On with the bracket.


Obviously there are many compelling narratives here. Will the Big 4 be the Final 4? Will Rothstein Kass surprise everyone like they did in the premiere Vault Ranking? If McGladrey is victorious will they celebrate with punch and cake? So get your vote on and leave your thoughts on the match-ups or each firm’s chances (please consult your local bookie for actually odds) in the comments. And naturally, we’re rooting for underdogs in every single match-up (we’re looking straight at you, Reznick and BKD people)

The vote launched at 6 am this morning and it will close promptly at 11:59 pm ET on Tuesday. We’ll then update you with the winners at some point on Wednesday and then launch voting for the next round and so on and so forth. Voting for each match-up appears on the following pages. And don’t even think of skipping the match-ups that don’t involve your firm; A) that makes you a loser and B) you’re clearly working too hard.

Let’s get to the voting, shall we?

Starting with PwC vs. Reznick Group.

Next up is unfounded rumored GT merger partner Moss Adams and perpetual Fortune lister, Plante & Moran.

Moving on to aforementioned GT vs. CG.

Klynveld v. Crowe

The most interesting accounting firm in the world vs. the firm now known as EisnerAmper.

#1 in size taking on the up-and-comer.

Mickey G’s up against Julius H. Cohn

Finally we’ve got Lehman Brothers’s auditor vs. BKD.

Vault’s Best Accounting Firms To Work For (Continued): Cube Farms, Selectivity, Tolerance for Stupid Questions

This morning we rolled a few more Vault rankings that gave you an idea of why they could be decent place to hold down a job.

Round two involves more categories for the bestest of the best, kicking off with your office digs:

Offices (don’t need a key for the john, “nap” rooms, The Onion and porn aren’t blocked)
1. Marcum
2. Kaufman, Rossin & Co.
3. Elliott Davis
5. Deloitte
7. Rothstein Kass
8. PwC
16. Moss Adams


Satisfaction (with relative lack of sexual harrassment? This seems unfinished.)
1. Armanino McKenna – San Ramon, CA
2. Berdon – NYC
3. CBIZ & Mayer Hoffman McCann – Cleveland, OH
5. Deloitte
13. Moss Adams
15. PwC
17. Rothstein Kass

Selectivity (ratio of hotties?)
1. PwC
2. Dixon Hughes – High Point, NC
3. Marcum
5. Deloitte
13. Rothstein Kass
14. Moss Adams

Formal Training (aka watching PowerPoint presentations to be followed up by heavy drinking)
1. Kaufman, Rossin & Co.
2. Marcum
3. Elliott Davis
10. Rothstein Kass
14. Deloitte
16. PwC
20. Moss Adams

Informal Training (aka your direct superior rolling their eyes at you before answering your question)
1. Marcum
2. PwC
3. Kaufman, Rossin & Co.
5. Deloitte
12. Rothstein Kass
15. Moss Adams

Best Accounting Firms for Comp, Treatment by Managers, Green Initiatives, Hours and More

Catching our breath from our series of Vault posts from last month, we return with their latest offerings – Best Firms to Work For. Now, if you’re confused as how this is different from their featured column, this series looks at specific areas where firms thrive (methodology here). No prestige debate here. These are some of the areas that factored more heavily into Vault’s featured ranking.

There are several lists so we’ll break them up into two posts. Each list features 20 firms so we’ll share the top three in each and point out where some notables rank.

Starting with everyone’s favorite:

Compensation
1. Marcum – Melville, NY
2. Goodman & Co. – Virginia Beach, VA
3. Elliot Davis – Greenville, SC
10. Rothstein Kass – Roseland, NJ (#1 last year)
17. Deloitte – NYC
18. Moss Adams – Seattle
20. PwC – NYC


Treatment by Managers
1. Kaufman Rossin, & Co. – Miami
2. Marcum
3. Elliot Davis
10. Rothstein Kass
14. Deloitte
16. PwC
20. Moss Adams

Culture
1. Kaufman, Rossin & Co.
2. WithumSmith+Brown, PC – Princeton, NJ
3. Eide Bailly – Fargo, ND
8. Rothstein Kass
13. PwC
14. Deloitte
20. Moss Adams

Business Outlook
1. Marcum
2. Kaufman, Rossin, & Co.
3. Goodman & Co.
6. PwC (#1 last year)
9. Deloitte
11. Rothstein Kass
18. Moss Adams

Green Initatives
1. Goodman & Co.
2. Kaufman, Rossin & Co.
3. Rothstein Kass
4. PwC
6. Deloitte
14. Moss Adams

Hours
1. Marcum
2. Kaufman, Rossin & Co.
3. Elliott Davis
10. Rothstein Kass
16. Moss Adams
19. Deloitte
20. PwC

Dive in. Debate. Debunk.

Vault Accounting 50: #41 – #50 (2011)

Wrapping up our series of posts on the Vault Accounting 50, we roll out the final ten.

And as always, if you’ve got anything newsworthy on these firms, get in touch with us at [email protected]:

41. Marks Paneth & Shron LLP – New York, NY
42. Citrin Cooperman & Company, LLP – New York, NY
43. Margolin, Winer & Evens LLP – Garden City, NY
44. Stonefield Josephson, Inc. – Los Angeles, CA
45. Blackman Kallick – Chicago, IL
46. Aronson & Company – Rockville, MD
47. Schneider Downs & Co., Inc. – Pittsburgh, PA
48. Burr Pilger Mayer, Inc. – San Francisco, CA
4 Drury & Company, L.L.C. – Bethesda, MD
50. Frank Rimerman & Co. LLP – Palo Alto, CA


Vault’s buzz with the occasional commentary from us:

Marks Paneth & Shron LLP – “Good advertisements on LIRR”; “Slow advancement” [wonder if the ads were discussed with WeiserMazars?]

Citrin Cooperman & Company, LLP – “No red tape”—“nimble enough to act on good ideas and make things happen”; “Too many mergers—a consolidation of small firms”

Margolin, Winer & Evens LLP – “[H]as nearly 200 employees in its offices in New York City and Long Island. The firm was founded in 1946, but the bulk of its growth came in the recent years—headcount almost doubled between 2001 and 2006.”

Stonefield Josephson, Inc. – “Founded in 1975, the California-based firm serves U.S. and international clients from offices in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Francisco, East Bay, Silicon Valley and Hong Kong.” [Recently joining team Marcum.]

Blackman Kallick – “Fun, young, energetic”; “Managers get mixed reviews” [And a decent Twitter feed that doesn’t overdue the hashtags, like some firms we know.]

Aronson & Company – “Reznick rival”; “Burns out employees” [Pretty good nonprofit blog.]

Schneider Downs & Co., Inc. – “Quality people (people who used to work there are easy to work with)”; “Unknown”

Burr Pilger Mayer, Inc. – Good size for the area but require tax and audit diversity”; “A copy of Armanino McKenna”

Watkins, Meegan, Drury & Company, L.L.C. – “Hitting the accounting scene in 1975, Watkins, Meegan, Drury & Co. has developed from an accounting firm with just three CPAs to one with three offices in Bethesda, Md.; Tysons Corner, Va.; and Annapolis, Md.”

Frank Rimerman & Co. LLP – “California’s Frank, Rimerman + Co. was founded in 1949 by a pair of Franks: Frank Rimerman and Robert Frank. When Frank Rimerman retired, his son Thomas Rimerman took over as the firm’s managing partner. Tom Rimerman is also known for his trailblazing stint as chairman of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants; as head of the AICPA, Rimerman outlined a bold agenda to revamp financial reporting practices, passed a Uniform Accountancy Act, created a non-CPA affiliate membership within the AICPA and established federal financial management reforms.”

Earlier Posts on the Vault Accounting 50:
Vault’s New Accounting 50 Ranking Has Plenty of Surprises
Vault Accounting 50 Rankings: Digging Into The Top 10

Vault Accounting 50: #31 – #40 (2011)

As we continue to mosey through this year’s Vault Accounting 50, we find a number of well known regionals in the #31-#40 range.

If you have any inside news, gossip, intern chicanery and the like for any of these firms, shoot us a message at [email protected].

31. BKD, LLP – Springfield, MO
32. Weiser LLP – New York, NY
33. Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP – Madison, WI
34. Amper Politziner & Mattia, LLP – Edison, NJ
35. LarsonAllen LLP – Minneapolis, MN
36. Anchin, Block & Anchin LLP – New York, NY
37. Novogradac & Company LLP – San Francisco, CA
38. UHY Advago, IL
39. Wipfli LLP – Milwaukee, WI
40. Beers + Cutler PLLC – Vienna, VA


Here’s the buzz from Vault:

BKD, LLP – “Competitive, well known”; “Opportunities for advancement adhere strictly to a set tenure schedule”

Weiser LLP – “Strong overall”; “In trouble, needed bailout”; “Great place for masochists”

Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP – “They’re moving up”; “Structured, suit and tie, no open-door policy”

Amper Politziner & Mattia, LLP – “Outside-the-box thinking is encouraged”; “Poor work environment, partners will throw you under the bus”

LarsonAllen LLP – “Progressive, growing”; ” ‘They do not reward’ those whose positions require more off-site time than others”

Anchin, Block & Anchin LLP – “Well respected”; “Benefits could [be] better”

Novogradac & Company LLP – “Large competitor in the real estate auditing business; specializes in low-income housing”; “Does awful work”; “Large tax practice, very little audit work”

UHY Advisors, Inc. – ” ‘More collegial and less hierarchical’ than at bigger firms”; “Diversity is ‘virtually nonexistent’ “; “In trouble, on the decline”

Wipfli LLP – “Partners are top tier for a small firm”; “Who?”

Beers + Cutler PLLC – “Pay is ‘well above the Big Four firms’ “; “Needs to have more diversity at the manager level”

And a bit of news on these firms in our pages:

BKD picked up Grant Thornton’s community hospital practice in Witchita, KS this summer and a partner died of a massive heart attack in his office.

Weiser announced their merger with Mazars back in the spring and we spoke with Weiser’s Doug Phillips about the combination.

Baker Tilly Virchow Krause merged with Beers + Cutler last November and they are also picking up the pieces at Koss.

• Amper Politziner & Mattia happily (?) became the second half of EisnerAmper.

UHY got out of New England

Discuss, deride and whathaveyou for the 31 to 40 crowd.

Big 4 Still Dominate Vault’s Prestige Rankings

This morning we’ll take a break from Vault’s Accounting 50, and bestow their prestige list upon you since style trumps substance in just about every facet of society these days.

So enough chit-chat, here are the top ten firms whose shit stinks the least (prior year ranking in parenthesis):

1 PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP New York, NY (1)
2 Ernst & Young LLP New York, NY (2)
3 Deloitte (Accounting Practice) LLP New York, NY (3)
4 KPMG LLP New York, NY (4)
5 Grant Thornton LLP Chicago, IL (5)
6 BDO USA LLP Chicago, IL (9)
7 McGladrey & Pullen LLP/RSM McGladrey Inc. BloomingtonAdams LLP Seattle, WA (6)
9 Plante & Moran, PLLC Southfield, MI (8)
10 J.H. Cohn LLP (Accounting Practice) New York, NY (11)


You’ll note the “NR” behind PwC, E&Y and KPMG. It appears the reason for this comes from last year’s prestige list that shows only the “consulting practice.” We’re awaiting the clarification from our friends at Vault and we’ll update you just as soon as we know the story. Just a glitch, sayeth Vault. We’ve updated above.

But if you make the assumption that the consulting practices were the accounting firms, As you can see, the top five firms are exactly the same. You probably also noticed that the top ten in the prestige list is vastly different from the top ten in Vault Accounting 50. With the exception of Deloitte and PwC, none of the firms in the prestige top ten appear in the Accounting 50. So if you’re a prestige whore and work/life/culture is meaningless, the Big 4 and the rest of the usual suspects will be your taskmasters of choice.

As for the rest:

11 Eisner LLP New York, NY (10)
12 Clifton Gunderson LLP Milwaukee, WI (19)
13 Crowe Horwath LLP Oak Brook, IL (12)
14 Rothstein Kass Roseland, NJ (16)
15 BKD, LLP Springfield, MO (20)
16 Reznick Group, P.C. Bethesda, MD (22)
17 Weiser LLP New York, NY (18)
18 Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP Chicago, IL (17)
19 Cherry, Bekaert & Holland LLP Richmond, VA (15)
20 Amper Politziner & Mattia, LLP Edison, NJ (13)
21 Dixon Hughes PLLC High Point, NC (25)
22 LarsonAllen LLP Minneapolis, MN (14)
23 CBIZ & Mayer Hoffman McCann P.C. Cleveland, OH (26)
24 Anchin, Block & Anchin LLP New York, NY (21)
25 Novogradac & Company LLP San Francisco, CA (29)
26 UHY Advisors, Inc. Chicago, IL (31)
27 Marcum LLP Melville, NY (30)
28 Wipfli LLP Milwaukee, WI (44)
29 ParenteBeard LLC Philadelphia, PA (24)
30 Beers + Cutler PLLC Vienna, VA (23)
31 Friedman LLP New york, NY (58)
32 Elliott Davis, LLC Greenville, SC (28)
33 Marks Paneth & Shron LLP New York, NY (35)
34 Berdon LLP New York, NY (36)
35 Citrin Cooperman & Company, LLP New York, NY (38)
36 Eide Bailly LLP Fargo, ND (39)
37 WithumSmith+Brown, PC Princeton, NJ (41)
38 Margolin, Winer & Evens LLP Garden City, NY (40)
39 Stonefield Josephson, Inc. Los Angeles, CA (34)
40 Blackman Kallick Chicago, IL (69)
41 Aronson & Company Rockville, MD (59)
42 Schneider Downs & Co., Inc. Pittsburgh, PA (51)
43 Burr Pilger Mayer, Inc. San Francisco, CA (45)
44 Watkins, Meegan, Drury & Company, L.L.C. Bethesda, MD (53)
45 Frank Rimerman & Co. LLP Palo Alto, CA (47)
46 Goodman & Company, LLP Virginia Beach, VA (46)
47 SS&G Financial Services, Inc. Cleveland, OH (NR)
48 Habif, Arogeti & Wynne, LLP Atlanta, GA (37)
49 RubinBrown St. Louis, MO (27)
50 Kaufman, Rossin & Co. Miami, FL (43)

Notables: Top 3 firm Rothstein Kass drops in at 14 here; recently merged Eisner and Amper fall in at 11 and 20 respectively; familiar names like Clifton, Crowe, BKD, Reznick, Weiser, BTVK and CB&H fill in the rest of the top twenty.

Big Moves: Wipfli, Friedman, Blackman Kallick and Aronson & Company all experienced double-digit moves up while Habif, Arogeti & Wynne and RubinBrown dropped the furthest.

Feel free to discuss any of these firms from a prestige standpoint (or lack thereof) and definitely get in touch with us with sterling examples which may or may not include partners who have the tendency to get into fisticuffs. It doesn’t appear to affect a firm’s ranking all that much.

Accounting Firms Rankings 2011: Prestige [Vault]
The 50 Most Prestigious Accounting Firms [Vault]

Vault Accounting 50 Rankings: Digging Into The Top 10

Kicking off our series of posts on the Vault Accounting 50 is the Top 10 firms. While we’ve got two very familiar names at the top, the rest of the top ten you may not be familiar with.

Feel free to comment on any of the firms in the top ten and their appropriateness or lack thereof or whatever else strikes you.

Plus If you’ve got any news, gossip or other information (compensation, cost-saving ingenuity and so on) for any of these firms that is fit for this here site, do get in touch with us at [email protected].

Now before we get to the highlights and lowlights on each, let’s refresh op ten:

1. Deloitte – New York, NY
2. PricewaterhouseCoopers – New York, NY
3. Rothstein Kass – Roseland, NJ
4. Marcum – Melville, NY
5. Dixon Hughes – High Point, NC
6. Moss Adams – Seattle, WA
7. Elliott Davis – Greenville, SC
8. Friedman – New York, NY
9. Kaufman, Rossin & Company – Miami, FL
10. Cherry, Bekaert & Holland – Richmond, VA


Here’s some of the buzz (and maybe a comment from us) from Vault’s profiles on the top ten:

Deloitte – “Earning potential as a partner is huge” but “Long path to partner” (that includes working “a lot of hours and weekends”)

PricewaterhouseCoopers – “The dean of public accounting” but “Pompous; GPA’s their only concern—they don’t consider experience or ambition”

Rothstein Kass – “Underdogs; competitors, hard workers” that are “Understaffed and undertrained”

Marcum – “Close to the Big Four—and growing in size daily”; “Works you to death; will spit you out if they don’t think you’re top talent”

Dixon Hughes – “Plenty of opportunities to advance”; “Headaches of rapid growth yet still limited by regional size”

Moss Adams – “Well-run, great firm”; “Could do better with its overall minority recruiting efforts” (Barry Salzberg might be willing to help!)

Elliott Davis – “Good, smaller firm”; “Lacks technical expertise”

Friedman – “Easy going atmosphere”; “Heavy pressure” (Jekkyl and Hyde?)

Kaufman, Rossin & Company – “Great working environment”; “Works with a lot of hedge funds; boys’ club”

Cherry, Bekaert & Holland – “Very reputable; Southern powerhouse”; “Work product is subpar”

And a sample of stories around these parts on the Top 10:

Deloitte associates attempting hip-hop

• A PwC partner in Houston that might make you think twice about attending happy hours

• Pre-Labor layoffs at Rothstein Kass

• Consider hitting the books before interviewing at Marcum

Moss Adams picked up Grant Thornton’s Albuquerque office

Kaufman, Rossin settled their lawsuit over their role in missing the Petters Ponzi Scheme for a shade under $10 mil.

Big 4 Land on Vault Consulting Firm Rankings by Practice Area

For those of you that love all-things-lists, Vault unleashed a few more rankings yesterday for the consulting folks, breaking it down to practice area. We’ll dispel with the pleasantries and get right to where the Big 4 (and their spin-offs) crash-landed on various lists.


Economic
9. Deloitte

Energy
4. Accenture
6. Deloitte

Financial
2. Ernst & Young
3. Deloitte
4. PwC
6. KPMG
10. Accenture

Human Resources
5. Deloitte
10. Accenture

Operations
3. Accenture
4. Deloitte
10. KPMG and PwC (tie)

Pharmaceutical and Health Care
6. Deloitte

Business Advisory
5. Deloitte
6. Accenture
7. PwC
8. Ernst & Young

Oh, and because you’re wondering, McKinsey & Co. finished #1 in all but three of the practice areas. Carry on.

Earlier:
Big 4 Have Big Presence on Vault’s Prestige List, Less So in Top 50

Big 4 Have Big Presence on Vault’s Prestige List, Less So in Top 50

On with the second dose of rankings today, this time courtesy of Vault with the Vault Consulting 50 and The Best Consulting Firms: Prestige.

The Top 50 came out last week and it is new to the stable of Vault rankings. Here’s the top twenty-five firms (26-50 is here) of the inaugural breakdown:

1 Bain & Company
2 The Boston Consulting Group, Inc.
3 McKinsey & Company
4 Analysis Group, Inc.
5 The Cambridge Group
6 Deloitte Consulting LLP
7 Oliver Wyman
8 A.T. Kearney
9 Triage Consulting Group
10 Censeo Consulting Group
11 West Monroe Partners
12 Cornerstone Research
13 PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (Consulting Practice)
14 Alvarez & Marsal
15 Trinity Partners, LLC
16 Booz & Company
17 Milliman, Inc
18 Strategic Decisions Group
19 PRTM
20 Gallup Consulting
21 Diamond Management & Technology Consultants, Inc.
22 Health Advances, LLC
23 Strategos
24 The Brattle Group
25 Monitor Group

Similar to Consulting Mag’s ranking, Deloitte and PwC (along with recently purchased Diamond) rank the highest of the Big 4 with derivatives Accenture and Capgemini landing at 32 and 45. Problem child Huron Consulting came in at 48. KPMG and Ernst & Young are MIA.

The methodology for the Top 50 breaks down this way: 25 percent firm culture; 25 percent work/life balance; 20 percent compensation; 20 percent prestige; 5 percent overall business outlook; 5 percent transparency. Practicing consultants were asked to rate what was most important to them at their firm. As you can see, while prestige still carries some weight, culture and work/life trump in this list.

Speaking of the prestige factor, a little jockeying amongst Mercer, Monitor and PwC but otherwise the top ten was unchanged from last year.

1 McKinsey & Company
2 The Boston Consulting Group, Inc.
3 Bain & Company
4 Booz & Company
5 Deloitte Consulting LLP
6 Mercer LLC
7 Monitor Group
8 PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (Consulting Practice)
9 Ernst & Young LLP (Consulting Practice)
10 Oliver Wyman
11 A.T. Kearney
12 Accenture
13 KPMG LLP (Consulting Practice)
14 IBM Global Business Services
15 L.E.K. Consulting
16 The Parthenon Group
17 Towers Watson
18 AlixPartners, LLP
19 Navigant Consulting, Inc.
20 Alvarez & Marsal
21 ZS Associates
22 Capgemini
23 FTI Consulting, Inc.
24 NERA Economic Consulting
25 Hewitt Associates

In the prestige list you’ll find the Big 4 much more prominent which may be due to the methodology that practicing consultants at these very firms are surveyed to rank the firms on a range from 1 to 10. They cannot, however, rank their own firm.

In 26-50 range you’ll find more familiar names including Huron at #27 (dropped from 25); Grant Thornton at #28; Diamond Management at #31; BDO Consulting at #49.

So based on these, the Big 4, GT, BDO seem to be doing well from a prestige standpoint but lag a little in others, namely culture and work/life balance. Sound about right? Discuss.

Consulting Firm Rankings 2011: Vault Consulting 50 [Vault]
Consulting Firm Rankings 2011: The Best Consulting Firms: Prestige [Vault]