Big 4 accounting firms most productive in Singapore: census

THE Big Four accounting firms are much more productive than all other accounting firms here and together have a 67 per cent market share, an inaugural census of accounting firms in Singapore has found.

Average productivity, measured in revenue per worker, came in at S$142,000 in 2015 for the Big Four firms, which all had at least 1,000 employees, the Singapore Accountancy Commission (SAC) said in a press release on Monday.

That level of productivity was a significant jump from the S$95,000 achieved at "large" accounting firms with 101-999 employees, SAC figures showed.

Accounting firms fared progressively worse moving down the size ladder, with "micro" firms of fewer than 10 employees chalking up a revenue per worker of S$68,000.

The SAC estimated that accounting firms in Singapore altogether generated S$1.8 billion of revenue in 2015. The Big Four accounted for 67 per cent of that and the remaining 33 per cent was shared among 697 smaller accounting firms.