Top 100 Firm Prager Metis took the lead among accounting firms with the most new Securities and Exchange Commission audit clients in the second quarter of 2019, while Big Four firm Deloitte & Touche continued to dominate among the largest auditors.
New York-based Prager Metis brought on 16 net engagements, for a total number of 18, with 16 of those new clients coming from its February 2019 merger with Las Vegas-based AMC Auditing.
Deloitte, meanwhile, netted nine clients on 10 new engagements, putting it far ahead of its large-firm rivals. While a number of those made strong showings in terms of new clients — including BDO USA with nine, EY with eight, and Grant Thornton and Marcum with seven — none of them managed to match Deloitte in terms of retention.
| Firm | Wins and losses | Net clients |
| Deloitte | +10/-1 | 9 |
| Grant Thornton | +7/-5 | 2 |
| Crowe | +3/-3 | 0 |
| EY | +8/-9 | -1 |
| BKD | -1 | -1 |
| Marcum (1) | +7/-9 | -2 |
| EisnerAmper | -2 | -2 |
| Moss Adams | -2 | -2 |
| KPMG | +5/-9 | -4 |
| BDO USA | +9/-14 | -5 |
| RSM US | +3/-9 | -6 |
| PwC | +2/-8 | -6 |
1 Comprising Marcum LLP & Marcum Bernstein Pinchuk LLP
(For a more extensive matrix of leading firms,
Clients by filing status, and more
Given their leading performance, it’s no surprise that Deloitte took the lead in terms of both new large accelerated filers and new accelerated filers, while Prager Metis picked up the most smaller reporting companies and non-accelerated filers in the second quarter.
Note that, because the SEC is now allowing companies to identify as both a smaller reporting company and either an accelerated or a non-accelerated filer, the list below has combined smaller reporting companies with non-accelerated filers.
AUDIT LEADERS
| Large accelerated filers | |||
| Auditor | Wins | Losses | Net |
| Deloitte & Touche | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| Ernst & Young | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| BDO USA | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Crowe | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Grant Thornton | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| PwC | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| KPMG | 1 | 4 | -3 |
| Accelerated filers | |||
| Auditor | Wins | Losses | Net |
| Deloitte & Touche | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| Grant Thornton | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| Crowe | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| KPMG | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Baker Tilly Virchow Krause | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Boulay | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Marcum | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Moody Famiglietti & Andronico | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| PKF O’Connor Davies | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Stowe & Degon | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Weinberg & Co. | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| RSM | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Smaller reporting companies and non-accelerated filers | |||
| Auditor | Wins | Losses | Net |
| Prager Metis CPAs | 18 | -2 | 16 |
| Haskell & White | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Wipfli | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Friedman | 5 | -3 | 2 |
Ranked by net gain. Ties are broken by overall number of client wins, then by alphabetical order.
Interestingly, while Deloitte & Touche led in terms of the number of new clients, it didn’t top the tables in terms of new market capitalization audited, new assets audited or new audit fees. EY led the league in the first and third categories, thanks in large part to its engagement with mobile payment company Square Inc., which accounted for more than $18 billion of its $22.76 billion in new market cap audited, and $4.48 million of its $13.5 million in new audit fees. It came in second in terms of new assets audited, following PricewaterhouseCoopers, which nabbed the top spot by onboarding Andeavor Logistics, an oil and gas refining, storage and pipeline company, accounting for $10.3 billion of its $10.650 billion in assets audited. (It’s worth noting, though, that Andeavor was acquired by another company in late July.)
NEW CLIENT LEADERS
| By market capitalization audited | |
| Auditor | Market cap |
| Ernst & Young | $22,762,919,054 |
| PricewaterhouseCoopers | $9,911,789,751 |
| Deloitte & Touche | $8,390,489,321 |
| KPMG | $2,429,941,209 |
| Grant Thornton | $1,769,545,555 |
| BDO USA | $1,285,911,319 |
| Marcum | $1,004,420,202 |
| Crowe | $911,424,218 |
| RSM | $708,678,562 |
| MAF | $655,788,430 |
| Boulay | $344,947,598 |
| Stowe & Degon | $290,675,000 |
| Baker Tilly Virchow Krause | $86,872,004 |
| Semple Marchal & Cooper | $83,525,032 |
| Haskell & White | $62,304,450 |
| By assets audited | |
| Auditor | Assets audited |
| PwC | $10,650,388,000 |
| Ernst & Young | $9,800,195,135 |
| Deloitte & Touche | $6,733,843,125 |
| Crowe | $6,733,835,000 |
| KPMG | $2,471,762,817 |
| Grant Thornton | $2,118,872,000 |
| RSM | $1,781,036,000 |
| BDO USA | $1,714,945,000 |
| Marcum | $356,097,840 |
| Stowe & Degon | $176,463,000 |
| Johnson Lambert & Co. | $150,283,193 |
| MAF | $125,175,000 |
| MaloneBailey | $96,816,942 |
| Boulay | $94,935,901 |
| By new audit fees | |
| Auditor | Audit fees |
| Ernst & Young | $13,531,556 |
| Grant Thornton | $9,336,445 |
| Deloitte & Touche | $9,159,213 |
| BDO USA | $5,640,575 |
| KPMG | $4,309,291 |
| PricewaterhouseCoopers | $4,005,620 |
| RSM | $2,162,100 |
| Marcum | $1,610,822 |
| MAF | $1,600,000 |
| Crowe | $1,166,357 |
| Baker Tilly Virchow Krause | $984,857 |
| Wipfli | $639,748 |
| CBIZ MHM | $599,140 |
| MaloneBailey | $580,440 |
| Yu CPA | $530,000 |
NET ENGAGEMENT LEADERS
| Firms | Net engagements | New engagements |
| Prager Metis CPAs† | 16 | 18 |
| Deloitte & Touche | 9 | 10 |
| Haskell & White | 3 | 3 |
| Wipfli | 3 | 3 |
| Grant Thornton | 2 | 7 |
| Baker Tilly Virchow Krause† | 2 | 5 |
| Friedman | 2 | 5 |
| Fruci & Associates | 2 | 4 |
| BF Borgers CPA | 2 | 3 |
| Boulay | 2 | 3 |
| Dixon Hughes Goodman | 2 | 2 |
| HKCM CPA & Co. | 2 | 2 |
| KSP Group Inc. | 2 | 2 |
| Mazars USA | 2 | 2 |
| Michael T Studer CPA | 1 | 2 |
| Weinberg & Co. | 2 | 2 |
| Hall & Co. CPAs | 1 | 2 |
| Accell Audit & Compliance | 1 | 1 |
| AJSH & Co | 1 | 1 |
| Boyle CPA | 1 | 1 |
| Cohen & Co. Ltd. | 1 | 1 |
| Davidson & Co. | 1 | 1 |
| dbbmckennon | 1 | 1 |
| GBQ Partners | 1 | 1 |
| HHC CPA | 1 | 1 |
| JLKZ CPA | 1 | 1 |
| Johnson Lambert & Co. | 1 | 1 |
| KCCW Accountancy Corp. | 1 | 1 |
| Macias Gini & O’Connell | 1 | 1 |
| CBIZ MHM | 1 | 1 |
| Milhouse & Neal | 1 | 1 |
| Moody Famiglietti & Andronico | 1 | 1 |
| Pan-China Singapore | 1 | 1 |
| Pinnacle Accountancy Group | 1 | 1 |
| PKF O’Connor Davies | 1 | 1 |
| Salberg & Co. | 1 | 1 |
| Semple Marchal & Cooper | 1 | 1 |
| SingerLewak | 1 | 1 |
| Spicer Jeffries | 1 | 1 |
| Squar Milner | 1 | 1 |
| Stowe & Degon | 1 | 1 |
| Thayer O’Neal Co. | 1 | 1 |
| Total Asia Associates | 1 | 1 |
| Turner Stone & Co. | 1 | 1 |
| Wang CPA | 1 | 1 |
| Wei Wei & Co | 1 | 1 |
| Whitley Penn | 1 | 1 |
| Yu CPA | 1 | 1 |
Ranked by net engagements; ties are broken by the number of new engagements, then by alphabetical order. † New engagements include significant gains from the same previous auditor, often an indication of a merger or other change in firm structure, or that some of the new engagements have a corporate affiliation, as with Prager Metis picking up a significant number of clients from AMC Auditing.
Data for the quarterly rankings are provided by Audit Analytics, a premium online intelligence service delivering audit, regulatory and disclosure analysis. Reach them at (508) 476-7007,
