[luma]

How do you know an Accenture consultant? They change "Big 3" to "Big 4".

[wheelinsupial]

Accenture is a new one to me. I've seen MBBD(eloitte) used a fair bit, but figured it was just a reddit meme.

[xapata]

It used to be Arthur Anderson, but they changed their name after Enron.

[wheelinsupial]

Sorry, I should have been more clear. The acronym is MBB (McKinsey, Bain, and BCG) that I'm familiar with when referring to the top consulting companies. MBBD (McKinsey, Bain, BCG, and Deloitte) is a reddit joke that I've seen a bunch. The original commenter was using McKinsey, Bain, BCG, and Accenture to refer to the "big 4" consulting firms. I've worked with Accenture before, but I've never heard anyone group Accenture with those other consulting firms.

[HelloMcFly]

Accenture has over 700,000 employees. Pretty easy to see how they'd get lumped in given they are everywhere, working for everyone.

I am not nor have I ever been an Accenture consultant.

[mitt_romney_12]

The Big 3 distinction isn't based on firm size (McKinsey, Bain, and BCG only have 38k, 25k, and 15k employees respectively) but rather on prestige and type of work done.

[ThisIsTheWay]

Is this distinction why they are often called the Top 3, not the Big 3?

[mitt_romney_12]

I haven't really heard Top 3 so I can't say, usually it's Big 3 or MBB. The Big part refers more to prestige and influence rather than actually size.

[barry-cotter]

Dell is not lumped in with MAGMA even though they’re everywhere and everyone knows who they are because they have completely different business models, employee pools and compensation. They’re barely in the same industry, if you squint. Similarly with Accenture and prestige consultancies. If you were going to have a Big 4 the fourth would be AT Kearney, not Accenture.