PwC laid off around 1,500 staff members this month, or about 2% of its US workforce, according to the Financial Times. The bulk of the cuts affected tax and audit employees.
“Historically low attrition” combined with “continued market shifts” necessitated the cuts, PwC US assurance leader Deanna Byrne said in an email to staff seen by Business Insider.
Many of the staff who were laid off were newer hires, the Financial Times reported. The firm is also cutting back on campus recruiting efforts and internships, though it will honor internship offers it has already made.
Boom to bust: The largest US accounting firms saw revenues soar post-pandemic. In 2022, the top 100 firms’ combined revenue jumped 18.55%, according to Accounting Today. In 2023, they experienced slower but still-impressive revenue growth of 12.88%.
PwC was no exception. Its revenue climbed 15.7% in 2023, and a further 9.74% in 2024. It went on a hiring spree over that same period, growing its US workforce from around 56,000 in 2022 to nearly 77,000 in 2025.
But the mini-boom appears to have ended, for PwC and for large accounting firms in aggregate. Last year the top 100 firms had an anemic growth rate of 4.89%, what Accounting Today called “one of the weakest performances of the century.” PwC’s Americas division’s revenue growth dropped from 10.7% in 2023 to 3.4% in 2024, Business Insider reported. Reduced demand for consulting and a weak M&A market are two reasons for the slowdown, according to the Financial Times.
Large layoffs have been the result: All of the Big Four firms, plus top-ten firm Grant Thornton, laid off sizeable percentages of their staff within the past year.
This report was originally published by CFO Brew.
