War for tax pros plays out at top advisory firms

There’s a talent war playing out in cut-throat competition among the country’s leading audit and advisory firms to beef up their top tax advisors’ teams.

- Priyanka Gawande

Over 100 partners and senior executives have changed firms in the past six to seven months, setting off one of the busiest hiring cycles the sector has seen in recent years.

The surge in demand for tax professionals comes on the back of companies seeking advice on issues including restructuring, mergers and acquisitions. Artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled tax solutions are also fuelling the hiring frenzy, with the firms recruiting top executives and their teams from rivals.

In focus are companies such as EY, Deloitte, PwC, KPMG, which are bunched together under the ‘Big Four’ tag. And then, there are firms such as BDO and Grant Thornton Bharat, who are guzzling tax expert talent. Partners with 15-plus years of work experience are joining competition and taking along their teams.

Multiple executives at these companies that Mint spoke to said that the opportunities offered included an up to 30% raise, a larger team to handle and promotions.

“A musical chair is going on in the tax business of these companies. The Big Four have hundreds of partners, and even if 2-3% of these senior executives shift, the numbers become big,” said a top tax executive at one of the Big Four. “We estimate that at least 100 have moved firms in the last two to three quarters. And more are in the pipeline.”