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Practice management Deloitte

The 2019 Top 100 Firms

March 08, 2019, 9:01 a.m. EST 1 Min Read
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A recent search through the archives reminded us that Accounting Today has been ranking the top firms in the profession for almost 30 years. And just a quick glance through the names on those old lists — many of them long vanished, or surviving only as an initial in a much larger conglomeration of firms — is enough to prove that change is a constant.

The profession does not sit still; if it did, there would be no need for lists like these. They serve to capture a snapshot of change in progress and, when we’re lucky, to catch a trend.

A case in point: the ongoing rise of the non-equity partner. As we noted last year, we have been fielding questions from candidate firms about whether to include non-equity partners in their partner totals, so we began asking firms to report both types of partner separately. With two years of collecting those figures under our belt, we’re confident in reporting a single partner figure for each firm that combines equity and non-equity partners, as well as the percent change from the previous year. Not all firms have non-equity partners, of course, and still others noted that they had only reported a total, but a great many do, and were willing to differentiate. We aren’t reporting individual firm breakdowns this year, but we’ll be sharing aggregated breakdowns by various categories online and in other reports later in the year.

In the meantime, here are a few notes on how to read the current report:

  • Unless otherwise noted, revenue is net revenue. Also, unless noted, revenues, offices and staff are for the U.S. only.
  • “Total Employees” is comprised of partners, professionals and all other personnel, including owners.
  • Where two firms reported equal revenue, the firm with the higher percentage of revenue increase received the higher ranking.
  • “MAS” stands for “management advisory services” — or consulting, as everyone calls it now.

As always, this report would not be possible without the dedication of our editorial staff — without their hard work, we wouldn’t be able to present you with this, the 2019 Class of the Top 100 Firms and Regional Leaders. Enjoy!

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The 2019 Top 100 Firms
Rank Firm Headquarters Chief executive 2018 revenues (in $mn) % chg. from 2017 Offices Partners Total employees
1 Deloitte§ New York City Cathy Engelbert $19,897.00 7.26 120 5,492 94,637
2 PwC§1 New York City Tim Ryan $16,847.00 5.82 94 3,500 57,000
3 Ernst & Young§ New York City Kelly Grier $14,000.00 7.69 82 3,500 45,300
4 KPMG§2 New York City Lynne Doughtie $9,460.00 5.58 101 2,213 35,736
5 RSM US3 Chicago Joe Adams $2,141.72 8.23 85 825 9,670
6 Grant Thornton4 Chicago J. Michael McGuire $1,865.22 6.53 58 623 8,556
7 BDO USA Chicago Wayne Berson $1,470.00 4.26 61 576 6,592
8 CLA5 NA Denny Schleper $954.00 10.29 110 785 5,521
9 Crowe Chicago Jim Powers $923.90 9.04 34 323 4,510
10 CBIZ & MHM6 Cleveland Chris Spurio and Andy Burczyk $784.91 9.23 91 440 3,876
11 Moss Adams Seattle Chris Schmidt $691.00 19.76 27 341 3,076
12 CohnReznick New York City Frank Longobardi $645.00 4.71 25 258 2,659
13 BKD Springfield, Mo. Theodore Dickman $594.62 5.36 36 279 2,611
14 Baker Tilly Chicago Alan Whitman $578.40 5.82 27 282 2,901
15 Marcum New York City Jeffrey Weiner $549.75 17.09 26 239 1,784
16 Plante Moran Southfield, Mich. James Proppe $542.58 4.17 22 274 2,495
17 Dixon Hughes Goodman Charlotte, N.C. Matt Snow $430.00 6.44 29 235 2,001
18 EisnerAmper New York City Charles Weinstein $360.70 2.3 17 170 1,401
19 Wipfli Milwaukee Rick Dreher $323.60 14.63 48 253 1,819
20 Carr, Riggs & Ingram Enterprise, Ala. William Carr $305.97 6.93 30 296 1,975
21 Eide Bailly Fargo, N.D. Dave Stende $299.20 11.06 32 260 2,044
22 Citrin Cooperman & Co. New York City Joel Cooperman $270.00 11.57 10 220 1,045
23 Armanino San Ramon, Calif. Matt Armanino $268.00 8.06 11 109 1,165
24 Withum Princeton, N.J. William Hagaman $206.20 17.55 12 133 1,031
25 Mazars USA New York City Victor Wahba $205.00 8.47 9 103 857

Key and notes:* Firm estimate
§ Gross revenue
P Reported equity and non-equity partners as a single combined figure.
NC No change
NA Not available or not applicable
NR Not ranked

1 PwC’s revenue figures and partner figures are Accounting Today estimates based on firm reports; all other figures are firm-supplied. 2017 total employee figure includes North America and Caribbean; 2018 number reflects PwC US only. Note: PwC's revenue and staff figures were updated May 14, 2019.
2 KPMG reported business offices, not every physical location. It also reported its fee split as a rounded percentage (given here) and exact dollar amounts.
3 RSM reported its fee split as a rounded percentage (given here) and exact dollar amounts.
4 Total personnel includes professionals in Grant Thornton’s India Service Center in Bangalore.
5 CLA does not have a headquarters location — there is no single place from which the firm is controlled or directed.
6 Office figures are for CBIZ; MHM has 27 offices.

Key and notes: * Firm estimate § Gross revenue P Reported equity and non-equity partners as a single combined figure. NC No change NA Not available or not applicable NR Not ranked

Rank Firm Headquarters Chief executive 2018 revenues (in $mn) % chg. from 2017 Offices Partners Total employees
26 Cherry Bekaert Richmond, Va. Michelle Thompson $194.60 11.97 15 138 1,128
27 Kearney & Co.P Alexandria, Va. Ed Kearney $169.30 10.94 4 28 706
28 Sikich* Chicago Christopher Geier $169.00 11.26 16 92 786
29 PKF O’Connor Davies New York City Kevin Keane $165.75 10.5 9 153 908
30 Holthouse Carlin & Van Trigt W. Los Angeles, Calif. Philip Holthouse $150.00 10.29 11 54 580
31 Novogradac & Co. San Francisco Michael Novogradac $147.30 7.88 28 58 598
32 Rehmann Troy, Mich. Randy Rupp $143.00 23.28 22 164 856
33 UHY Advisors Inc.7 Chicago Anthony Frabotta $141.74 4.61 20 84 740
34 MarksPaneth New York City Harry Moehringer $137.00 4.58 8 89 703
35 Warren Averett Birmingham, Ala. Mary Elliott $133.66 0.42 14 112 832
36 MBAF CPAs Miami Antonio Argiz $131.10 9.25 10 77 618
37 Weaver Houston John Mackel $127.10 10.33 9 94 661
38 Berdon* New York City Mark Bosswick and Stu Kotler $122.20 0.95 2 43 453
39 Elliott Davis Greenville, S.C. Richard Davis $122.00 1.67 8 77 686
40 Friedman New York City Harriet Greenberg and Fred Berk $120.00 16.5 8 77 515
41 Squar Milner Irvine, Calif. Stephen Milner $117.80 16.52 7 65 652
42 The Bonadio Group* Pittsford, N.Y. Thomas Bonadio $115.80 9.97 12 93 750
43 NKSFB8 Los Angeles Mickey Segal $115.00 71.77 6 31 315
44 Whitley Penn* Fort Worth, Texas Larry Autrey $113.40 16.19 6 56 460
45 RubinBrownP St. Louis John Herber $110.90 21.84 7 125 786
46 LBMC Brentwood, Tenn. Jeff Drummonds $108.55 12.06 3 61 569
47 Anchin New York City Frank Schettino $102.00 -1.92 1 53 364
48 Frank, Rimerman & Co. Palo Alto, Calif. Brian Kreischer $100.10 10.85 4 29 447
49 FGMK Chicago Mario Donato $99.00 1.02 2 72 408
50 BPM San Francisco Jim Wallace $97.60 13.09 8 45 457

Key and notes:* Firm estimate
§ Gross revenue
P Reported equity and non-equity partners as a single combined figure.
NC No change
NA Not available or not applicable
NR Not ranked

7 UHY Advisors and UHY LLP are affiliated through an alternative practice structure.
8 In April 2018, Nigro Karlin Segal Feldstein & Bolno LLC was acquired by Focus Financial Partners, becoming NKSFB LLC; accounting and audit services are performed by a separate entity, Nigro Karlin Segal & Feldstein LLP.

Rank Firm Headquarters Chief executive 2018 revenues (in $mn) % chg. from 2017 Offices Partners Total employees
51 Prager Metis CPAs New York City David Neste and Glenn Friedman $97.03 17.61 11 74 504
52 Cohen & Co. Cleveland Randall Myeroff $96.43 31.41 12 69 556
53 Aprio Atlanta Richard Kopelman $96.14 12.93 5 61 459
54 Frazier & Deeter Atlanta Seth McDaniel $96.01 14.82 9 46 318
55 Katz, Sapper & Miller Indianapolis David Resnick $94.67 19.32 3 42 445
56 Hill, Barth & King Canfield, Ohio Chris Allegretti $94.00 17.5 16 83 484
57 Horne Ridgeland, Miss. Joey Havens $90.89 10.14 13 39 571
58 BlumShapiro West Hartford, Conn. Joseph Kask $83.40 5.04 7 62 445
59 Blue & Co. Carmel, Ind. Brad Shaw $83.24 5.67 10 50 465
60 Schneider Downs Pittsburgh Timothy Hammer and Steven Thompson $82.90 8.65 2 45 512
61 RKL9 NA Edward Monborne $82.51 21.46 9 49 447
62 Honkamp Krueger & Co. Dubuque, Iowa Greg Burbach $81.20 14.53 8 51 475
63 Doeren Mayhew Troy, Mich. Chad Anschuetz $74.83 7.65 5 58 324
64 Berkowitz Pollack Brant Miami Joseph Saka $72.40 8.38 5 14 260
65 BerryDunn Portland, Maine John Chandler $70.46 26.48 6 37 354
66 Kaufman Rossin Miami Blain Heckaman $70.10 8.35 4 53 375
67 K-Coe Isom Loveland, Colo. Jeff Wald $66.52 3.05 23 52 355
68 SVA CPAs Madison, Wis. Carl Schultz $65.82 15.78 5 43 285
69 Grassi & Co. New York City Louis Grassi $65.00 5.01 5 30 269
70 Clark, Schaefer, Hackett & Co. Cincinnati Kerry Roe $64.24 -5.28 6 42 405
71 Montgomery Coscia Greilich10 Plano, Texas Gary Boyd $60.49 11.96 3 29 290
72 SingerLewak Los Angeles Jim Pitrat $60.03 12.16 10 43 305
73 Schellman & Co. Tampa, Fla. Chris Schellman $58.57 20.24 1 14 192
74 Skoda Minotti Cleveland Gregory Skoda $58.55 9.11 4 41 288
75 MGO Los Angeles Kevin O’Connell $58.50 9.14 12 34 351

Key and notes:* Firm estimate
§ Gross revenue
P Reported equity and non-equity partners as a single combined figure.
NC No change
NA Not available or not applicable
NR Not ranked

9 RKL does not have an official headquarters location.
10 Announced plans to merge into Baker Tilly in June 2019.

Rank Firm Headquarters Chief executive 2018 revenues (in $mn) % chg. from 2017 Offices Partners Total employees
76 MCM CPAs Louisville, Ky. Diane Medley $57.07 5.86 5 50 384
77 Seiler Redwood City, Calif. George Marinos $57.00 3.64 3 20 232
78 SC&H Group Sparks, Md. Ronald Causey $56.22 1.39 3 43 255
79 Aronson Rockville, Md. Larry Davis $56.02 4.2 1 31 256
80 BerganKDV11 St. Cloud, Minn. Dave Hinnenkamp $55.73 6.99 7 52 399
81 Bennett Thrasher Atlanta Jeff Eischeid $55.72 10.53 1 38 296
82 Postlethwaite & Netterville Baton Rouge, La. Dan Gardiner $55.56 -4.72 8 35 400
83 Raich Ende Malter & Co. New York City Ellis Ende $53.60 -4.8 3 38 229
84 Aldrich Salem, Ore. Martin Moll $52.60 6.91 7 35 300
85 Vavrinek, Trine, Day & Co. Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. Kevin Pulliam $52.50 23.53 13 47 313
86 Rea & Associates New Philadelphia, Ohio Don McIntosh $50.41 23.37 12 53 301
87 Brown Smith Wallace St. Louis Anthony Caleca $49.97 8.77 3 29 332
88 KLR Providence, R.I. Alan Litwin $49.54 5.63 4 30 237
89 PYA Knoxville, Tenn. Edward Pershing $49.34 9.23 5 36 229
90 Freed Maxick CPAs* Buffalo, N.Y. Henry Koziol $49.00 6.52 4 31 293
91 Mauldin & Jenkins Atlanta Donald Luker $48.70 9.68 7 52 317
92 Wolf & Co. Boston Mark O’Connell $46.90 8.56 4 30 231
93 Miller Kaplan Arase North Hollywood, Calif. Douglas Waite $46.75 7.47 6 28 222
94 Kemper CPA Group Evansville, Ind. John Rubenacker $45.68 4.55 29 69 331
95 Baker Newman & Noyes Portland, Maine Dayton Benway $45.40 2.25 4 38 250
96 Gursey | Schneider Los Angeles Stephan Wasserman $44.88 17.76 6 16 192
97 Lutz Omaha, Neb. Mark Duren $44.00 25.53 4 35 262
98 Brown, Edwards & Co. Roanoke, Va. Jason Hartman $42.40 13.07 9 43 338
99 PBMares Newport News, Va. Alan Witt $41.70 3.47 10 40 216
100 Clark Nuber Bellevue, Wash. Robert Wheeler $41.00 6.22 1 23 203

Key and notes:* Firm estimate
§ Gross revenue
P Reported equity and non-equity partners as a single combined figure.
NC No change
NA Not available or not applicable
NR Not ranked

11 Office figures do not reflect October 2018 merger with HSMC Orizon, which added two offices.

Practice management Deloitte PwC EY KPMG Grant Thornton RSM BDO USA Top 100 Firms