Leading consultancy group Accenture announced in a SEC filing that it will cut 19,000 jobs in the next 18 months, in a bid to reduce costs amid economic uncertainty.
This round of layoffs, the biggest in a series of cuts among consulting companies, will impact about 2.5 per cent of Accenture’s staff.
Alongside the cuts, the company announced a five per cent increase in revenue, to US$15.8 billion, but lowered its annual revenue and profit growth guidance to between eight per cent and 10 per cent, down from eight per cent to 11 per cent.
“We are taking steps to lower our costs in fiscal year 2024 and beyond while continuing to invest in our business and our people to capture the significant growth opportunities ahead,” said Julie Sweet, chair and chief executive officer at Accenture.
The company said that it will incur severance costs of US$1.2 billion, and charges of US$300 million for consolidation of office space from this round of cuts.
Accenture, like many other IT giants, ballooned in recent years, hiring over 230,000 staff since 2020. In the year that ended in Feb. 2023, the group increased its workforce by 38,000.
The company said it continues to hire, but has “initiated actions to streamline operations, transform non-billable corporate functions and consolidate office space to reduce costs.”
Rivals KPMG and McKinsey also slashed jobs last month as they battle to trim costs and face decreasing client demand.
Yesterday, job search platform Indeed also announced that it is cutting 2,200 jobs, or 15 per cent of its workforce, joining the likes of Meta, Amazon, Google and Microsoft, which have axed thousands of jobs since the beginning of 2023.