Deloitte and EY trim staff amid slowing demand following years of rapid growth for Big Four firms

Major consulting firms are experiencing a slowdown in demand for advisory services. Professional services firm Accenture cut its revenue forecast for 2024 from between 2% and 5% to between 1% and 3%. The firm cited the “uncertain macro environment” for its reduced expectations and said that clients continue to cut back.

The trend has hit particularly hard given many of the firms went on a hiring spree during the pandemic as businesses looked for advisory support to handle to the impacts of the pandemic. In the 2023 fiscal year, Deloitte expanded its UK team alone by 7,000 employees.

Aside from workforce reductions, consulting firms are also introducing new policies as they face up to an industry slowdown.

PwC has ended its “Summer Fridays” perk that allowed UK staff to take Friday afternoons off for three months of the year. They were only permitted to do so for two months in 2023 and six weeks in 2024.

In March, Deloitte launched “the biggest overhaul of its global operations in a decade,” the FT reported. The overhaul will take a year to implement and will see the business cut itself down from five to four divisions in an effort to slash costs.

For the second year running, EY has delayed start dates for some new hires. The firm has also reduced the number of internships available next summer and cut pay by roughly 2% for some of its US partners.

The worst may be over

The firm told Business Insider that the decision to delay was made to help ensure new joiners would have “the quality and breadth of assignments to ensure a successful start and strong professional trajectory.”

The worst of the slowdown in the sector is likely already over, said James Callander, managing director of Freshminds, a UK-based consulting recruitment firm.

Callander said the policies and workforce reductions that have been implemented will balance the amount of talent with the amount of work. He added that there’s often a lag between the data on workforce numbers and the reality of the business.

Callander was optimistic that the market would pick up by 2025: “Companies and businesses going through change and growth will always require professional advice.”

Do you work at Deloitte or another Big Four firm? Contact this reporter in confidence at pthompson@businessinsider.com