Are you ready? Big Four companies are going to hire around 300 graduates from IIMs

If you are studying in any of the IIMs, prepare yourself to appear for an interview with one of the Big Four companies.

EY, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte and KPMG are coming to IIMs and are looking to hire at least 300 graduates to step up their advisory practice.

These companies are going to take on McKinsey, the Boston Consulting Group, Bain and AT Kearney and EY says it would double its intake.
The Big Four, which are mainly known for auditing and taxation, are expanding their presence in advisory and consulting business.

"We are sourcing the talent from the same place as the strategy firms, like from the IIMs. In fact, now clients don't just want advice but they want us to put skin in the game, help them transform their business - this is an area we are good at,” an advisory leader at one of the Big Four firms told ET.

EY is planning to visit IIMs in Bengaluru, Kolkata, Lucknow, Kozhikode and for the first time, Indore.

"Our students are more interested in the consulting kind of role than pure audit and if these firms are planning to offer a similar profile they would be obviously interested,” Sapna Agarwal, head of career development services at IIM Bangalore, told ET.

As per industry officials, white-shoe consultants have total revenue of about Rs 1,300 crore in India and the Big Four get about Rs 2,500 crore.

“Well, we do compete in some areas, but there, too, you would see that the fee we command is very high compared to the Big Four. Otherwise, the white-shoe consultancies have an edge and clients are willing to pay for it,” a senior partner at one of these consultancies told ET.

"In India, I see that some of the Big Four in some service lines are moving up the value chain and they do compete with the McKinsey and the BCGs of the world,”a global partner in a Big Four consultancy told ET.

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