ABSTRACT
Commonly perceived as technical and neutral, accounting is in reality a subjective and political practice, which can and often has been used to disguise, deceive and manipulate. The Big 4 firms have grown in size and influence in the era of globalisation, and collectively generate billions of dollars of revenues every year, and operate in over 150 countries (total revenues over $100 billion) (Humphrey et al. 2009). Their activities began from the statutory requirement for auditing, which gave them privileged access to the top of large and powerful corporations, but have now extended into many other areas of advisory work such as taxation, management consulting, forensics, fraud investigation, policy and strategy, and governments also have become their clients. Globalisation and financialisation have been hugely beneficial to their growth and expansion. They have also openly moved from being professional, ethical firms to entrepreneurial businesses, without any apology, and do not see any conflict between business and professional values (Zeff 2003; West 2003; Sikka 2008).
