As part of our ongoing research activities, we are always looking for sources of company information including top companies in each country and top lists for any industry or segment.
In the Business Services industry group, one of the segments is the Accounting and Tax firms. One source we have found an annual issue of Accounting Today where they publish the top 100 firms in that industry segment. This is a good source of names if you are marketing to the accounting/tax/audit industry.
When we match those names to the Global 5000 database looking for new possible firms, we look for the total international relationship or affiliates. For example, Crowe Horwath is a top 10 company shown with their US (Chicago) location and revenue in the $700 million range. When we dig deeper, they are part of a larger affiliation of accounting firms called Crowe Horwath International with HQ in New York and revenue of $3.7 billion.
The lesson here is that there are any number of top lists published which are valuable in their own right where they focus on specific audience needs. Putting them altogether and pulling them into one central database effort takes some research beyond the initial look