Criteria
The most important characteristic that I am looking for in a potential employer is a family friendly culture and environment. KPMG and Pricewaterhouse Cooper's both offer that environment. However Pricewaterhouse Cooper offers substantially more services aimed at the working mother. It is obvious that they have a sincere appreciation for their working mothers. They have been named by Working Mother magazine as one of the top ten best companies to work for as a working parent. They have appeared in the magazine an astonishing seventeen times. There is an extensive amount of questioning that ranges in the flexibility of their programs and the usabilty of them, and also the responsiveness of managers. (PwC Ranked Among Ten Best Companies by Working Mother Magazine, 2011) I am not concerned with the size of the company but they do employ over 160,000 people worldwide which will allow me to develop networking contacts that I might not have been able to make if I were to work in a smaller company. They are headquartered in the United Kingdom and have offices worldwide. I am not afraid of having to relocate and am hopeful that I will be allowed to relocate overseas and experience Europe with my family while working on my career. In addition to a family friendly culture I am concerned with the reputation of a company and their social responsibilty. Pricewaterhouse Cooper embraces those qualities by improving their business practices, reducing their carbon footprint, and giving back to communities. (Pricewaterhouse Cooper's Corporate Info, 2011) They have exceeded my expectations of meeting my desired criteria while researching a potential company to aim for in my career after graduation.

Company No. 1
KPMG: Products and Services
Commonly known as one of the big four accounting firms they are headquartered in Amsterdam and have offices worldwide with over 130,000 employees. They focus on providing audit, tax and advisory services across fifteen industries. Broadening their scope of business across these industries allows them to gain knowledge for their clients and create specific strategies when implementing their auditing methods whether here in the United States or in another country. Since there are everchanging policies and regulations KPMG pride themselves in constructing methods internally that enable them to stay in compliance while delivering high quality services. They do this by staying in constant communication with managers and their clients, in addition to creating auditing commitees to better serve themselves as a company and for the client. (KPMG, 2011)

Tax is an all around complicated matter and KMPG embraces the issue by employing tax professionals with expertise covering all aspects of tax. Within the umbrella of Federal Tax they are able to provide consulting services from the basic guidelines of Federal Tax to more complex matters when dealing with mergers and acquisitions. Secondly, they have a group named the KPMG Washington National Tax that employs over 150 people who have worked previously for the Internal Revenue Service. This gives them an enormous amount of knowledge while working with clients dealing diretly with tax issues. (KPMG, 2011)

Lastly they offer advisory services in their service line which consist of consulting in the areas of risk , manage, and restructuring. I mentioned several of their institutes that are in place within the company, but in total they have eleven institutes to better serve themselves and their clients. (KPMG, 2011)
Company No. 2
Pricewaterhouse Cooper's: Product and Services
Pricewaterhouse Cooper offers identical services as does KPMG. In addition to auditing, tax and advisory services they also offer services in the Human Resource industry. Headquartered in London, United Kindom they have over 160,000 employees worldwide. Their business handlings are done over a range of 22 different industries.

While the area of taxation is daunting they cater to all facets of taxation as well. From basic guidelines of taxation to the finacial hurdles that come with mergers and acquisitions they are equipped to tackle them. They also combine consulting services into their taxation umbrella which allows them to service their clients in the present while presenting them with courses of action that could grow their company as far as capital and cash flow. They do this by staying on top of everchanging regulations and passing the information to their clients. They offer classes to their staff members in what is called PwC University. Employees that hold a CPA license benefit from these classes on two levels. The first level is that they are constantly being educated and secondly they earn Continuing Professional Credits. These classes are also open to the general public.

Auditing and Compliance is another service that they offer in conjuction with advisory services. They help their clients maintain compliance while setting up action to ensure that they stay within the scope of regulations from the United States and globally. They also provide service in the Human Resource industry as far as advising in the effectiveness and organization of their workforce.

Company No.1
KPMG: Customer's and Company Culture

They have a broad customer base consisting of more than 30% of global banks, major corporations, government agencies, public service sectors, and smaller businesses.

Their company culture is to provide high quality services to their clients while maintaing the integrity of regulations that are set before them by governing agencies worldwide and in the United States. They also implement the importance of ethics by having every employee sign the code of conduct that is instituted in KPMG. They have won numerous awards for having a diverse workplace along with taking steps to be environmentally conscience. It is a driven work environment and they take pride in being one of the big four accounting firms.

Company No. 2
Pricewaterhouse Cooper: Customer's and Company Culture

Along with KPMG they also have a broad customer base. Their clients include global banks, major corporations, government agencies, public service sectors, and smaller businesses. However they are able to service more of the government agencies because of their service within Human Resources.

Their company culture is to take adavantage of their diversity and monetize on that notion alone. The world is a big place and they make sure that their customers have someone to identify within their company. They also believe in the extensions of their own employees by embracing a very family friendly environment. They maintain a high ranking among other big corporations while still making benefits available to their employees when other companies are cutting them. In addition to the diversity and to the family friendliness they also embrace the gay and lesbian community.

Company No.1
KPMG: SWOT Analysis
Strengths: While operating in 150 countries they have a hold on the global market because they service major banks and corporations giving them the ability to have strong relationships worldwide. They also service clients over a broad range of industries that allow their revenue to be diversified and not relying solely on one area of the marketplace. They recently acquired a company by the name of Equa Terra in February 2011. This allowed them to gain more footing with acquiring more global clients because Equa Terra was involved in global outsourcing in industries that KPMG was not affiliated with before in the past. (Datamonitor:KPMG, 2011)

Weakness: KMPG has been accused of gross misconduct in their auditing processes. In one case they have admitted wrong doing with setting up tax shelters for the wealthy to escape paying taxes to the Internal Revenue Service. They also depend on high end clients and with the current state of the economy it is uncertain if there will enough Fortune 500 companies for them to service. Their credibilty as a firm is also compromised because of the lawsuits which can curtail furture and existing clients.(Datamonitor:KPMG, 2011)

Opportunities: Since we are in an ecomomic decline companies will most likely look for advisory services to grow their company while the fate of the nation is uncertain. It is more cost effective to seek professionals for advice and direction rather than to gamble with the market and put in place strategies of growth blindly. In additiion to new opportunities companies are seeking new ways of reorganizing their business processes and possibly acquiring other companies to establish a place in a new market that could grow their business.(Datamonitor:KPMG, 2011)

Threats: Of the major firms in the same market they will easily begin to advise on the same level as KPMG does. Also there are many talented individuals who have had a career in one of the major firms and can use their expertise for their own gain and start flooding the market. There has also been a major economic crisis in Europe where many of their clients are headquartered. The uncertainity of that economy can have an adverse affect on KPMG as well.(Datamonitor:KPMG, 2011)

Company No. 2
Pricewaterhouse Cooper: SWOT Analysis

Strengths: They combine advising with their services which has given them the ability to become the leader in business advising among the Big 4 firms. They were given this disctintion from the Kennedy, a leading research group. They service 415 companies that appear on the the list of Fortune's 500. This provides them with a strong client base that none of the Big 4 come close to.

Weakness: They have also been named in lawsuits and their credibilty has been lowered because of this. They are involved with lawsuits namely from India stemming from allegations of accounting scams and fraud from auditors. As with other Big 4 firms most of these allegations come from the crisis of the sub-prime lending crisis that has taken a toll on current economy.

Opportunities: They have acquired two consulting firms this past year in 2010. They are already a leader in business advising and this will give them the ability to service their clients in an improved way better than before. They have also adopted the International Financial Reporting Standards that will draw in more global clientele as they have already entered into the Chinese and Indian markets.

Threats: There will be an enormous amount of competition among the Big 4 firms as they all offer similar products. With the collapse of Enron and the implementation of Sarbanes-Oxley all of the accounting firms have to regain the trust of the public and the government. Once your credibilty is compromised it will effect your customer base. Since there are only 4 major firms the level of competition is high so any small mistake can be costly.