✒ The idea to integrate member firms makes business sense given the amount of cross-border work that the Big Four carry out, particularly on consulting. It can encourage better exchange of ideas, staff, and greater shared interest in investments made by member firms.
However, under the traditional federated or network model, each of the member firms are legally separate and independent entities. There are attempts to achieve “globalisation” by forming regional clusters but this would spread the risk across whole cluster if one of the member firms get penalised. As a result, regional networks come and go.
As the article points out:
“These obstacles are frustrating for Big Four consultants who wish to be as nimble and global as their counterparts at Accenture or McKinsey. Strategy and merger advice know no frontiers. But auditors and tax advisers are regulated and ringfenced at national level.”