As KPMG looks to cut hundreds of staff, expect more layoffs at the Big Four March 31, 2026 The Big Four giants, after hitting pandemic-era highs, are currently navigating a perfect storm of challenges: a harsher market, a surge in AI investment and a stagnant economy. These pressures are forcing firms to take a pair of shears to their workforces as the industry’s traditional “attrition model” fails to keep pace with reality. Over [...]
Deloitte confirms tax head to replace Richard Houston March 30, 2026 Big Four giant Deloitte has selected Darren Graves to succeed Richard Houston, who is stepping up to lead the newly created Deloitte EMEA unit. Graves will be the next senior partner and chief executive from June, after winning a confirmatory vote by the firm’s partners. However, according to media reports, he was put forward as [...]
Reeves’ £1.2bn consultancy savings plan in doubt, watchdog warns March 11, 2026 Despite Rachel Reeves’ focus on cutting government spending on external consultancy services, a damning report stated that the government is unable to set meaningful targets to reduce its reliance on external firms. The UK government has said it wants to put an immediate stop to all non-essential consultancy spending and halve consultancy spending in future [...]
‘It’s a feeding frenzy’: US consultancy scoops up dozens of senior Global Counsel staff March 10, 2026 A little-known American advisory firm is poised to hire up to a quarter of Global Counsel’s senior leadership team, amid a “feeding frenzy” that has broken out for top staff left jobless by the ignominious collapse of the Peter Mandelson-founded lobbying group. Washington-headquartered Capstone expects to confirm as many as 20 senior hires in the [...]
Graduate jobs crisis: Here’s who is actually still hiring in 2026 February 25, 2026 The job market is looking bleak. For recent graduates it’s not just a downturn, but a great big wall blocking off access to an early career. But in a vicious, Darwinian struggle for a meagre handful of jobs, there could still be advantages for grads. The whippersnapper hiring slowdown is a many-headed beast, but the [...]
Big Four giant Deloitte forms $20bn EMEA unit amid tech disruption February 23, 2026 Deloitte, one of the Big Four, plans to launch a Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) firm, aiming to build a regional powerhouse that keeps pace with rapid technological change. After a successful partner vote, Deloitte announced on Monday that the new EMEA firm will launch in June 2026. Deloitte EMEA will bring together 16 [...]
CBI board member Peter Hogg to lead Arcadis’ UK and Ireland business February 2, 2026 The CBI’s senior council chair, Peter Hogg, has been appointed as Arcadis’ country director for the UK and Ireland, City AM can reveal. Hogg is a 28-year veteran of the global design and consultancy firm and will succeed Simon Bimpson, with a focus on leveraging Arcadis’ position in sustainable design to deliver infrastructure that improves [...]
US tax consultancy faces $12bn threat, but AI could deliver $19bn in gains January 20, 2026 New research suggests AI could drive a $7bn (£5.2bn) net increase in the US tax consulting industry if firms shift focus from routine compliance to high-value advisory. The report from Source Global Research revealed that despite the potential threat to revenue, over half of all US tax services are expected to be significantly powered by [...]
Reeves vows to halve consultancy bill, but government can’t track its spending November 21, 2025 Despite the government setting an ambitious target to halve overall spending on consultants, a new report suggests, the lack of consistent data hinders efforts to track progress toward spending targets. Rachel Reeves has set targets to halve the UK government’s overall spending on consultants in 2025-26 and to save £550m in 2024-25, aiming for £700m [...]
AI becomes UK businesses’ first line of defence amid regulatory uncertainty November 12, 2025 AI has moved from an experiment to the primary ‘first line of defence’ for UK businesses facing regulatory scrutiny and operational uncertainty. According to new data from consultancy firm Elixirr, nearly half of UK businesses stated that all resilience-focused investment now flows to technology and AI. This comes as an overwhelming number of UK business [...]