PwC US plans to lay off 1,800 employees – or 2.5% of its 75,000-person workforce – according to a report from The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
The Big Four accountancy plans to initiate the job cuts in October, people familiar with the matter told the WSJ.
The cuts will primarily impact PwC’s advisory and products and technology operations, with half of the cuts affecting offshore roles. The layoffs will affect roles ranging from associate to managing director and include business services, audit, and tax, the people said.
“There will be an element of resource action that will impact a relatively small proportion of our people, something that is never easy,” said Paul Griggs, CEO of PwC US, in a memo obtained by the WSJ.
Griggs succeeded Tim Ryan as head of PwC US in May and returned the firm to its traditional three-business structure (audit, tax, consulting) in July. PwC in 2021 combined its tax reporting and accounting business into a single “trust solutions” line and merged tax consulting with the consulting business line.
In the September 11th-dated memo, Griggs said the company will also restructure its products and technology teams to further embed them in individual business lines and streamline business processes.
The layoffs are PwC’s first formal round of cuts since 2009, having avoided the series of cuts enacted by its Big Four peers last year. Deloitte announced a 1.5% cut to its US workforce, KPMG US cut 5% of its employees, and EY US cut 5%.
A combination of factors, including higher interest rates and weaker economic conditions, have lessened demand for certain consulting services, while a pandemic-era hiring boom followed by lower-than-expected attrition have placed further pressure on consultancies to enact layoffs.
“Ultimately, we are positioning our firm for the future, creating capacity to invest, and anticipating and reacting to the market opportunities of today and tomorrow,” Griggs added.
Sourced from Consultancy.uk