Big Four Accounting Firms Pare Their Consultant Ranks in Postpandemic Reversal

livemint.com:

The Big Four accounting firms are trimming their consulting ranks—sometimes months after a promotion—after forecasting slower growth as more businesses scale back on third-party help in certain areas. The firms—Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers—are facing the consequences of aggressive hiring over the past two years as the pandemic spurred higher demand for consulting in areas such as corporate strategy, coupled with lower attrition than they expected during the first half of the year. The recent rounds of layoffs have been heavily focused on the advisory sides of the firms.

KPMG laid off about 5% of its U.S. staff in June—including advisory, tax and back-office people—four months after cutting some advisory personnel, nearly 2% of U.S. staff.

In April in the U.S., Deloitte cut 1.5% of its staff and EY 5%. PwC said its U.S. unit hasn’t had layoffs and isn’t planning any.

Outside the Big Four, Grant Thornton let go 3% of its U.S. staff in May. While hiring soared in the wake of the pandemic, other data sets show exits were also rising.

In the U.S. at the four firms, exits—both voluntary and not—have generally climbed each year since at least 2019, according to a review of online professional profiles by Revelio Labs, a provider of workplace data. In 2022, roughly 56,600 people collectively left the firms, up 8.3% from a year earlier in the Revelio data.

But that scenario flipped this year, even amid layoffs. Exits at the four big firms have dropped, falling 11.6% through June from the year-earlier period, to about 21,400 in the U.S., according to Revelio. “Life became more flexible and folks have found reasons to stay where they might have been ground to a fine powder prior years," said Michael