The sugar rush is over: The Big Four must wake up from their pandemic dream Big Four The pandemic was the worst thing that could have happened to the Big Four giants and the overall consultancy market. At the time, these firms were flying high, flooded with inquiries from businesses needing help to navigate the ‘once-in-a-lifetime ‘ event, but this ‘sugar rush’ didn’t last forever, and it gave the industry a false [...]
Grant Thornton takes on Big Four giants with new £40K salary for London grads Prof Services Grant Thornton has raised its London graduate starting salary to £40,000 and introduced “milestone bonuses” into the pay structure as part of the firm’s ambition for significant growth. The private equity-backed firm has overhauled its early careers programme, first reported by City AM in April, and will offer ‘market-leading’ starting salaries to London juniors of £40,000 from [...]
Deloitte’s tech consulting division weighs on growth Big Four Deloitte reported a rise in revenue in its latest financial year even as growth in its technology and transformation division slipped lower, as the consultancy sector comes under pressure from artificial intelligence. The Big Four firm reported global revenue of $74.5bn (£56.37bn) for the 12 months to the end of May, up from $70.5bn the [...]
How AI is forcing the Big Four to rethink graduate training September 23, 2026 The Big Four giants – KPMG, Deloitte, EY, and PwC – have for decades played an important role in shaping the next generation of City workers. As one of the largest graduate trainers in the UK, their approach to restructuring graduate programmes in the age of AI will be crucial to the future of financial [...]
PwC’s UK business grows but Iran conflict hits wider group September 16, 2026 Big Four giant PwC reported steady financial growth in its UK business, with revenue and profit per partner both increasing slightly from the previous year, despite group revenue slipping due to the Middle East conflict. For the year ended 30 June 2026, PwC’s UK business’s revenue grew to £4.365bn, up two per cent on the previous year. While [...]
KPMG wields axe again with 200 tech and cyber roles on the block September 15, 2026 KPMG UK is set to lay off hundreds of staff in its data and tech division in the latest round of redundancies at the Big Four firm. The new round of cuts will affect 200 roles from its advisory business, according to the Financial Times, and amounts to about 4 per cent of the firm’s [...]
Europe’s boardroom pay gap with North America narrows amid battle for expertise September 15, 2026 European financial institutions have aggressively closed the transatlantic pay gap at board level, driven by efforts to attract top-tier and specialist talent as boards face into a growing range of complex challenges. An EY analysis of more than 2,000 financial sector directors shows European non-executive remuneration surged 10 per cent in 2025, more than double [...]
Ditch the ‘usual suspects’: Gov.uk founder urges Labour to look beyond Big Four consultants September 2, 2026 Labour has loudly pledged to slash taxpayer spending on external consultants. However, the founder of a City-based digital consultancy firm told City AM that the government still relies on private firms to plug operational gaps because the civil service previously “got rid of the wrong skills”. Ben Terrett, chief executive and founder of Public Digital, said the [...]
Former Interpath Advisory chair takes helm at sustainability consultancy after chief executive exit September 1, 2026 Interpath Advisory’s former chair will lead the City-headquartered, sustainability-focused consultancy Anthesis Group as its new chair, as its chief executive steps down. Tamara Box, previously City law firm Reed Smith‘s managing partner for Europe and the Middle East, is set to take on the new chair of Anthesis Group’s board of directors this week after [...]
Affluent Big Four partners lack ‘fire in the belly’ to disrupt consulting market August 27, 2026 The trend of Big Four partners leaving to launch boutique consultancies has accelerated in recent years. But Q5 co-founder has told City AM that many will struggle to build true challenger brands without an “all or nothing” approach. Five founders, including managing partner Olly Purnell, launched boutique consultancy firm Q5 at the height of the global financial [...]