Kpmg to Lay Off Less Than 4% of US Audit Workforce, Source Says

(Reuters) -KPMG will lay off less than 4%, or about 330 people, of its audit workforce in the United States, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday.

Besides KPMG, Ernst & Young, Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers make up the Big Four of accounting firms.

“The actions reflect our ongoing focus to align the size, shape and skills of our workforce to the market, while addressing continued low levels of attrition,” a KPMG spokesperson said in a statement via email.

KPMG has a presence in “more than 143 countries and territories with over 273,000 partners and employees”.

The accounting firm had planned to cut about 100 jobs in its deal advisory business in the UK, a source told Reuters in October 2023.

In June last year, KPMG also announced layoffs affecting 5% of its U.S. employees after feeling the pinch of “economic headwinds, coupled with historically low attrition,” a spokesperson for the accounting firm had said.

(Reporting by Saeed Azhar in New York and Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Maju Samuel)