The new era may place a higher value on finding practical ways to improve the workings of vast bureaucracies, and most of McKinsey's clients are large multinational companies and government departments.

ECONOMIST: It is McKinsey's turn to try to sort out Uncle Sam

More important, scale matters in the audit of large, multinational companies, which is why the industry consolidated into five big firms in the first place.

ECONOMIST: Auditing

With a population of 184 million, Brazil's potential internal market is large, and the country has attracted a host of multinational companies.

FORBES: International Investing