Big Six

Traditionally the six big accountancy firms: KPMG, PriceWaterhouse, Coopers & Lybrand, Ernst & Young, Deloitte & Touche and Arthur Andersen. The number fell to five with the creation of PricewaterhouseCoopers following the merger of Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand. It then fell to four with the demise of Arthur Andersen (Accenture, initially called Andersen Consulting, was created in 1989).