Consultancy giant EY has let go of more than 200 staff, the latest in a series of mass lay-offs at Big Four firms.
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EY's Oceania CEO David Larocca said market shifts had decimated demand for consultancy services and the company had made the difficult decision to make redundancies.
As a result, 232 Australian employees have been told they are no longer required.
"This clearly is not an outcome we wanted or anticipated when we started out this year," Mr Larocca said on Thursday.
"We are in a challenging and uncertain environment, with the market continuing to shift at the fastest pace that we have experienced in the last 15 years.
"We are forecasting for this reduced demand to be felt for most, if not all, of this financial year."
Though the company has continued to grow throughout the 2023/24 financial year, the momentum is slower than previous periods.
Mr Larocca said the company attempted to make adjustments to preserve jobs by re-arranging workers, changing recruitment activity, deferring graduate start dates and addressing leave balances.
But all of that was not enough.
"We didn't anticipate the need for these measures when we started out the year and we regret that these individuals have been impacted," Mr Larocca said.
Fellow Big Four firm PwC cut its headcount by more than 300 this week after Westpac ended its partnership with the consultant.
In February, KPMG also shed 200 jobs after a slowdown.
Australian Associated Press
