PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, one of the Big Four, is structured as a network of member firms, connected through membership in PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited, with offices in 150-plus countries and 155,000 employees. PwC provides many services, including audit and assurance, tax, transactions, performance improvement, human resources, advisory services and crisis management. One source of pride for PwC, which has a reputation for being an otherwise serious bunch of number-crunchers, is that the firm tabulates the Oscar winners for the Academy Awards. The firm recently got a very black eye for its auditing relationship with India's Satyam Computer Services Ltd. after Satyam's chairman and founder admitted to cooking the books for years.

PwC has had the huge task of providing, along with Ernst & Young LLC, accounting services for the U.S. federal government bailout. And big changes may be in store for the organization: Dennis M. Nally is succeeding PricewaterhouseCoopers International chairman Samuel A. DiPiazza Jr. Nally had been chairman and senior partner of the U.S. firm.