the BIG 4 I'm referring to are Accenture, McKinsey, BCG and Bain.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

If you redefine common terms as you go, you should at least give the reader a heads up. Nobody uses “big 4” for MBB and Accenture. Those are not the same type of companies.

There's nothing quite so "tell me you worked for Accenture without telling me you worked for Accenture" as referring to MBB and Accenture as "Big 4".

It's like Deloitte consultants referring to MBBD.

>It's like Deloitte consultants referring to MBBD.

I'm pretty sure that's just a reddit meme, but I guess it's funny someone took it seriously?

The whole thread is debating who’s sitting in the BIG4 and all I see is companies trying to belong on musical chairs. What’s strangest to me is we’re not in an early-Schumpeter cycle, seats should be well-established by now, it’s been half a century.

It is well established, which is why it’s somewhat funny when someone “disagrees”.

Accenture is not even close to MBB in terms on hourly rates (~1/5) & “status”. They are a 3rd tier firm.

Accenture aren't even in the Vault Consulting Top 50 rankings. I don't know how this list is calculated but people in consulting tend to refer to this (I used to work at MBB).

Keep in mind that Accenture has a lot more variability than MBB or Big 4. I've seen McKinsey undercut Accenture on price for strategy projects

One of those four is not like the others.

That's not the Big 4. There is "Big 4" and "MBB", that's it.

Big 4 = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Four_accounting_firms

Big Three / MBB = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Three_%28management_consul...

Accenture is neither in the big 3, nor the big 4.

lol. McK isn't a body shop. McK = ivy league grads, olympic medalists, top PhD's from flagship state schools. I mean Chelsea Clinton worked at McKinsey. You think she's going to be managing some Indians on setting up SAP?

This is the correct answer, btw. Accenture isn't usually included in Big 3 or Big 4. It's its own deal, but more comparable to Big 4 than Big 3

Yes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Four_accounting_firms

Every legit consultant knows things only come in threes.