PwC’s Growth Stalls As It Cuts Staff and Falls Behind Big Four Rivals

PwC‘s world income is stuttering because it struggles to develop on the similar fee as its Large 4 rivals.

The consulting and accounting agency reported on Tuesday that its world income grew 2.9% to hit $56.9 billion in its 2025 monetary yr, which covers the yr ending June 30.

The outcomes mark a slowdown in income progress at PwC for the third consecutive yr — within the 2024 monetary yr, the speed of progress dropped from 9.9% to three.7%.

The agency known as the outcomes a “strong efficiency in a difficult financial local weather.”

PwC additionally lower its global head count by 5,600 in its 2025 monetary yr, marking a turnaround in a earlier technique to spice up numbers.

In 2021, the Large 4 agency, then underneath the management of Bob Mortiz, introduced plans to develop its world workforce by 100,000 by the center of 2026. To achieve the 2021 objective, it will now have so as to add roughly 40,000 employees within the subsequent 12 months.

In August, Enterprise Insider obtained a part of an inner presentation displaying that PwC US deliberate to cut graduate hiring by a 3rd over the subsequent three years. The agency has additionally lowered entry-level recruitment in its UK branch.

In a letter connected to the earnings, Mohamed Kande, chair of PwC, mentioned the agency understood the necessity to reinvent its enterprise.

“This yr, we invested in our individuals, expanded our technological choices, and continued to construct modern capabilities to assist our shoppers thrive,” Kande mentioned, including that “the approaching yr will carry extra change and complexity.”

Lagging behind opponents

Financial uncertainty has hit demand for consulting providers lately, and the potential for AI disruption is now forcing corporations to rethink their constructions and pricing fashions.

The Large 4 have thus far employed methods like layoffs, limiting partner payouts, and restructuring divisions to deal with the disruption.

Nonetheless, each Deloitte and EY — fellow members of the Large 4 — reversed the sample of slowing progress of their most up-to-date earnings stories, rising their companies greater than in 2024 with a 5% improve and 4% improve, respectively.

EY, presently the third largest of the Large 4 by income, inched nearer to matching PwC’s total income. There was a $3.7 billion distinction within the corporations’ 2025 outcomes.

PwC’s advisory enterprise carried out at the same degree to its opponents, although its assurance and tax and authorized providers fell brief.

The agency’s advisory income was up 4.5% to $24.3 billion, although PwC mentioned that sturdy momentum slowed within the second half of the monetary yr, “primarily as a consequence of geopolitical and financial uncertainties in key markets.”

KPMG, the fourth member of the Large 4, is because of report ends in January. It’s the smallest of the group, with income roughly $20 billion behind the opposite three.

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