Big four cut jobs for graduates as AI adds to consulting crisis

Accountancy giants are reducing their university intake and workforces while offshoring roles, as the disruption caused by advanced AI begins to take effect.

- By Barney Macintyre

Consultants are facing the awkward task of researching AI-driven job cuts within their own industry.

Last week, a McKinsey report found that job vacancies in the UK economy have fallen by 43% since 2022, with the decline in postings for white-collar jobs nearly twice that seen elsewhere.

Across the professional services sector there is a dawning realisation: the disrupters have become the disrupted. A many-sided crisis in consulting includes the replacement of entry-level and graduate roles with AI, a reduction in spending on consultants by governments and reputational problems linked to companies' work, whether it is marketing for opioids or drawing up reconstruction plans for warzones.