Somewhere very close to where you are now is someone who used to work for a “big four” audit firm. There is a law of physics that says wherever there is a Financial Times reader there is at least one former big-four accountant within shouting distance.
In the UK alone, the ex-employees of these magic circle firms on LinkedIn run to about 100,000. Those listing KPMG as a former employer amount to a monstrous 27,657, and the other three aren’t far behind.
That number is enough to do something big. Only accountants, as we know, aren’t predisposed to do something big; so they’ve been doing something small instead, in great number. These alumni have been shunting business in the way of their former employers. And this, according to the UK’s Competition Commission, is a stitch-up. Last week it published a report showing that two-thirds of all finance directors used to work for a big four firm and that this was hampering competition.