Newsletter No 18

Date: 28 November 2025

 

The Big Four, facing both ways

This month Saila Stausholm wrote for Critical Takes about the “strategic duplicity” of the Big Four accounting and consulting firms, which act as guarantors of market rules on behalf of states while also helping their wealthy clients to exploit those rules, especially tax rules.

It’s good to have an article about the Big Four on the platform because they’re enablers of corporate power in general as well as powers in their own right, with significant influence over legislation and public policy around the world.

People don’t necessarily think of the Big Four as multinationals, because they’re structured as global partnerships rather than as joint-stock companies, but they are very large entities. For example, PwC’s revenues of US$56.9 billion put it on a par with the top couple of hundred multinationals, out of thousands.

 

What do you think of Critical Takes?

I’m looking for feedback from readers to help me decide the direction of Critical Takes in 2026. Please find a spare minute to briefly answer two questions:

1. Do you find Critical Takes useful and if so, in what way?

2. What would you like to see more of on Critical Takes in 2026?

Please send your answers to editor AT criticaltakes DOT org. Even a couple of sentences would be fine, if that’s what you have time for.

It seems unlikely that I’ll be able to raise grant funding for Critical Takes in the foreseeable future. I’m not willing to go down the route of charging for access, because ideas can't spread freely if people have to pay to read them, which means I’ll need to continue running the platform pro bono and covering its costs out of my freelance earnings.

Given that my resources are pretty limited, it makes sense for Critical Takes to focus on those topics that users most want to read or hear about, hence the request for your feedback. Your answers will be kept confidential and won’t be used for any other purpose. Thanks very much in advance!

 

Coming up in January: the concentrated power of Big Agriculture; how multinationals influence the way we talk about problems of corporate power.

Until then, good luck with your work and have a good holiday!

Diarmid