Dive Brief:

• PricewaterhouseCoopers laid off about 1,500 employees this week, citing low turnover and the need to better align with client needs. 
• “This was a difficult decision, and we made it with care, thoughtfulness, and a deep awareness of its impact on our people, appreciating that historically low levels of attrition over consecutive years have made it necessary to take this step,” a spokesperson for the Big Four accounting and consulting firm said in a statement sent to CFO Dive.
• The layoffs affected professionals in PwC’s assurance and tax lines of service, including accountants. The spokesperson said the cuts weren’t related to AI adoption or AI investments.

Dive Insight:

The layoffs come as the broader accounting industry is grappling with a shortage of finance and accounting talent. In recent months, at least 11 states have passed legislation aimed at removing the 150-hour college credit licensure requirement for certified public accountants in a bid to attract a new generation into the profession, CFO Dive previously reported.  

The spokesperson for PwC — which last year expressed support for the 120-hour college credit alternative path to CPA licensure — on Wednesday affirmed the firm’s commitment to strengthening the CPA talent pipeline. 

“The profession needs more CPAs long-term, and our commitment to growing that pipeline hasn’t wavered. This is a moment of workforce recalibration, not retreat,” the company spokesperson said.

The staff cuts, first reported by The Financial Times, came after a “months-long examination of the business,” sources told the publication. PwC employs 75,000 people in the U.S. The layoffs come after the firm cut 1,800 employees in September mostly in its U.S. advisory, products and technology operations teams, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Despite claims AI isn’t playing a role in driving staff reductions, speculation persists. In 2023, the firm announced it would make a $1 billion investment in generative AI over three years. Its AI initiatives include ChatPwC (an internal generative AI tool) and AI agents that guide software development and offer advice to auditors.

Amid pressure from private equity-backed competitors and the advent of AI, PwC, like other Big Four Firms, is streamlining operations, James O’Dowd, managing partner with the executive search firm Patrick Morgan, told Bloomberg Tax. 

Despite industry concerns around a finance and accounting talent shortage, PwC is the latest Big Four firm to announce layoffs in recent months. 

In early April, multiple media outlets reported that Deloitte was cutting a "small percentage" of its employees in its government and public services practice after a pullback in spending under the Trump administration. Since January, 127 contracts have been cut or modified.

Last November, KPMG laid off about 4% of its roughly 9,000-person U.S. audit workforce, after several rounds of cuts in the U.S., The Wall Street Journal reported.  

Meanwhile, EY is cutting jobs across global consulting, legal and regional management teams this year as part of a restructuring effort under CEO Janet Truncale.