The UK’s Big Four accountancy firms have slashed graduate recruitment and cut hundreds of early-career roles as artificial intelligence begins to automate the junior work once assigned to school-leavers and university graduates.
Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC — who together employ around 100,000 staff across the UK — have scaled back their graduate and school leaver intake over the past two years, with some reducing hiring by nearly a third.
KPMG made the steepest cuts, trimming its graduate cohort from 1,399 in 2023 to just 942 — a 33 per cent reduction. Deloitte cut its scheme by 18 per cent, followed by EY and PwC with cuts of 11 and 6 per cent respectively.
The drop in hiring is being fuelled by an industry-wide pivot towards cost-cutting, as firms look to maintain seven-figure partner payouts in the face of a post-Covid slump in consulting and tighter client budgets. Increasingly, those cuts are being delivered by generative AI tools like ChatGPT, which can automate tasks that were once the training ground for junior analysts.
“The Big Four are looking at AI very seriously to replicate junior work more cost-effectively,” said James O’Dowd, managing partner at executive search firm Patrick Morgan.
In parallel with AI expansion, all four firms are doubling down on offshoring, shifting work to lower-cost locations in India, Malaysia and the Philippines — further eroding the traditional pipeline for UK-based entry-level roles.
Job listings in the sector reflect the trend: graduate job adverts in accountancy have dropped 44 per cent year-on-year, significantly outpacing the wider downturn in graduate vacancies.
Despite scaling back recruitment, the Big Four are racing to position themselves at the forefront of the AI economy. Deloitte, PwC and EY are now developing AI assurance services — tools that audit and validate the performance, safety and bias levels of AI models.
Deloitte audit partner Richard Tedder described AI assurance as “critical to adoption”, while PwC is understood to be close to launching its own service.
The move reflects broader ambitions to make the UK a global AI hub. Government data suggests that AI could add £200 billion to the UK economy, with SME adoption alone offering a potential £78 billion boost over the next decade.
But challenges remain, particularly around public confidence. KPMG’s own research reveals that just 42 per cent of UK adults currently trust AI, and nearly three-quarters report having no formal training in it.
As firms pivot to monetise the AI boom, many in the graduate job market are left wondering what future roles will look like. While AI creates opportunity in some areas, it is rapidly erasing others — particularly at the bottom of the corporate ladder.
With fewer foot-in-the-door jobs, and automation only set to increase, a fundamental question is emerging: if AI is replacing the entry-level, where will the next generation of partners come from?
