Largest consulting firms with an audit and accounting heritage

South America is home to thousands of large, mid-sized, small and boutique audit and accounting firms, most of which today also provide a range of advisory and consulting services. 

Latin America’s consulting industry is valued at around $5.1 billion, one fifth of the size of the Asia Pacific market, but still significantly larger than the consulting markets of the Middle East ($3.6 billion) and Africa ($2.9 billion). Not surprisingly, Brazil is Latin America’s largest consulting market, making up almost half of the total by value. 

A growing share of the South America’s consulting market is being held by firms which traditionally focused on the audit and accounting space. In sync with a global trend, audit and accounting firms in the region have been branching out their areas of expertise to include advisory services, enabling them to tap into unregulated and more lucrative areas of work (consulting fees are typically higher than accounting fees) while positioning them to better serve their clients with a more end-to-end portfolio of offerings.

Probably best illustrating accounting’s push into consulting are the Big Four firms of Deloitte, EY (formerly Ernst & Young), KPMG and PwC. A decade ago, the quartet generated over forty percent of their revenues with audit and accounting services. Today, the situation has reversed, and over half of their fees comes from consulting and other advisory services such as mergers & acquisitions, restructuring and digital transformation. 

Accounting firms across the globe have followed in their footsteps, including in South America. Meet South America’s largest consulting firms with an audit and accounting heritage: 

Deloitte

Footprint: 312,000 accountants, auditors and consultants in 150+ countries 

PwC

Footprint: 276,000 employees in 157 countries worldwide

EY

Footprint: over 270,000 employees in over 700 offices in 150 countries around the world 

KPMG

Footprint: 220,00 employees in 153 countries and territories 

BDO

Footprint: by 88,000 professionals working out of 1,800 offices in 167 countries

RSM

Footprint: over 43,000 staff in over 120 countries, working from 810 offices

Grant Thornton

Footprint: over 56,000 employees in over 130 countries 

Baker Tilly

Footprint: 120+ member firms in 147 countries, with around 30,000 employees 

Mazars

Footprint: and services. 40,400 audit, accountancy, tax, legal and consultancy experts in 90 countries

Nexia

Footprint: over 250 member firms in 120+ countries

Moore Global

Footprint: 30,000 people across more than 260 accountancy and consultancy firms 

Kreston

Footprint: 23,000 staff in 110+ countries and 700+ offices 

Crowe

Footprint: 200+ independent accounting and advisory services firms in 130 countries 

HLB International

Footprint: over 25,000 staff across 700 member firms in 150 countries

PKF International

Footprint: offices in 440 cities and operations in 150 countries 

UHY

Footprint: accounting and consulting firms with offices in over 270 major business centres

MGI Worldwide

Footprint: a headcount of more than 5,200 staff in over 260 locations worldwide 

Russell Bedford

Footprint: over 5,500 staff and 300 offices in almost 100 countries 

Morison KSi

Footprint: over 160 members firms in more than 80 countries

Ecovis

Footprint: over 7,500 professionals operating in 75 countries

TGS Global

Footprint: 63 member firms with offices in 58 countries 

Reanda International

Footprint: 125 offices and over 4,000 employees globally

BKR Interntional

Footprint: 160 accounting and business advisory firms in 80 countries 

IECnet

Footprint: over 65 member firms 

Geneva Group International (GGI)

Footprint: 605 member firms with 840 offices in 126 countries 

TAG Alliances

Footprint: 290 member firms in 110 countries 

Allinial Global

Footprint: 235 member firms with over 600 offices 

IAPA International

Footprint: 60 member firms in 66 countries 

PrimeGlobal

Footprint: 300 accounting firms in 80 countries 

MSI Global

Footprint: over 250 member firms in more than 100 countries 

DFK International

Footprint: 220 member firms in 95 countries 

About the list

The list focuses on audit and accounting companies (networks and associations) with an on the ground presence in South America that also provide advisory and consulting services in areas including management consulting, finance, governance, risk & compliance, digital, business transformation, forensics & investigations, disputes & litigation, risk management, mergers & acquisitions, restructuring, tax advisory and assurance advisory services. 

The professional services firms presented are listed in no particular order. Countries included in the analysis are the eleven larger countries of South America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.