The Big‐5 in New Millennium: The Transition to Multidisciplinary Service Provision

As the new millennium draws near, the business world is experiencing a number of radical changes on a global scale. Globalisation, information technology, increasing competitive pressures and changing international law have set the scene for a vastly changing business environment for the 21st century. The future prosperity of the accounting profession will depend on its ability to manage this change and to be prepared to adapt to capitalise on new opportunities. In particular, the Big‐5, with their immense size and resource pool, are well placed to respond to and take advantage of these changes in the global business environment. The impact of the response of the Big‐5 to the anticipated market parameters of the new millennium raises a number of interesting issues in terms of the impact they have on the various segments of both the accounting profession and the entire business community.