Inside the Top 100

It's difficult to near the 19th edition of our Top 100 Firms throw without reflecting just how abundant has changed since the inauguration of this massive undertaking back in 1987

Ronald Reagan was winding up his next to the first term as the nation's chief executive, the Dow Jone was just above the 2000 mark, and a total of just 60 firms comprised Accounting Today's first ranking. Today, 19 editions later, many firms that appeared in that first issue are gone - either via merger acquisition or, unfortunately, collapse. on the other hand while the old order changeth - and astute readers will diocese myriad changes in this year's issue - the mission behind this undertaking does not.

Each year, our editors begin the gritty proces of gathering relevant data to not absent a number-crunching schematic of the country's top tax and accounting firms, and also to discover what stokes their expansion engines, allowing them ...