PwC Falls Hard as Deloitte Overthrows Behemoth in Global Rankings

For the first time in a decade, Deloitte has overtaken rival PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and in turn has become the most valuable commercial services brand in the world.

Deloitte, a multinational professional services network headquartered in London, United Kingdom, is now worth approximately Ksh3 trillion, according to a global top 50 ranking released by Brand Finance.

Compared with last year’s Ksh2.1 trillion, which was enough to see the company ranked second in 2018, Deloitte’s value has increased 42.2% year on year.

The firm’s worth was enough to push the company to the top of the ranking, dethroning fellow “Big Four” rival PwC and toppling it in worth for the first time in 10 years.

“A major portion of Deloitte’s brand value is coming through its advisory service line, with its consulting revenue growing the fastest with double digit growth rates in each of their core capabilities: technology, strategy and operations and human capital,” Brand Finance said.

Along with fellow professional service firms PwC, KPMG and Ernst & Young, Deloitte form what is globally recognised as the Big Four of accounting companies.

PwC, which was last year’s most valuable commercial services company, fell to fifth position despite an 11.7% rise. Last year’s crowning worth of Ksh2.3 trillion has increased to Ksh2.5 trillion. This, however, was not enough to see four other institutions overtake it on the Brand Finance ranking.

Besides Deloitte, ahead of PwC is Visa (Ksh2.87 trillion), American Express (Ksh2.85 trillion) and Accenture (Ksh2.7 trillion).

PwC also dropped from first to third in the most valuable professional services ranking, with Deloitte topping and Accenture sandwiching the two Big Four accounting firms.

Brand Finance said in its report, “PwC is the most valuable brand in both the assurance and tax service lines. PwC experienced particularly strong demand for indirect tax advice such as value added tax and customs.”

Most of these multinationals have bases of operation in Kenya.

Top 10 Most Valuable Commercial Services Brands

1. Deloitte
2. Visa
3. American Express
4. accenture
5. PwC
6. Ernst & Young
7. Mastercard
8. PayPal
9. KPMG
10. ADP

In terms of brand strength, Deloitte tops with 91.2 points, with PwC second on 89.8 points. Ernst & Young is third with PayPal managing fifth in the brand strength category.

Deloitte East Africa CEO Joe Eshun said, “Being named as the most valuable and strongest commercial and professional services brand has been made possible through our people and clients.”

Brand strength, according to Brand Finance, is the efficacy of a brand’s performance on intangible measures, relative to its competitors.

“In order to determine the strength of a brand, we look at marketing investment, stakeholder equity, and the impact of those on business performance,” the Brand Finance report says.

After calculating this, each brand is assigned a Brand Strength Index (BSI) score out of 100.

Top 10 Strongest Commercial Services Brand 2019

1. Deloitte – 91.2
2. PwC – 89.8
3. Ernst & Young – 89.7
4. McKinsley & Company – 89.5
5. PayPal – 89.3
6. Visa – 88.0
7. accenture – 85.8
8. KPMG – 83.2
9. Mastercard – 83.1
10. Bain & Company – 81.3