LONDON, March 30, 2026, 12:10 BST
KPMG’s UK arm is moving to cut staff in its audit business, with up to 440 jobs at risk if a formal redundancy consultation goes ahead. Bloomberg reported that nearly 600 audit employees were told their roles were at risk, and the proposed reduction amounts to about 6% of the division’s roughly 7,100 staff. 1
The move matters because it shows pressure reaching even the steadier audit side of the Big Four model. A softer hiring market has left fewer people leaving on their own, while weaker consulting demand has forced firms to look harder at costs; KPMG’s January results showed audit sales rose 5% in 2025, but advisory revenue fell 3%. 2
A KPMG UK spokesperson told Reuters the firm normally expects “a regular pattern of natural attrition” but that current market conditions had left turnover unusually low in parts of audit, pushing it to “right size those areas.” The firm did not confirm the 440 figure in that statement. 1
The roles most exposed are assistant managers who are qualified accountants, Bloomberg said. In other words, the proposed cuts fall on trained audit staff rather than at the partner level. 1
The pressure may not stop at audit. The Financial Times and Australian Financial Review reported that KPMG separately told advisory staff about roughly 120 job cuts, extending the squeeze across a business already hit by slower consulting and deals activity. 3
That sits awkwardly beside KPMG’s latest numbers. In its first combined UK/Swiss annual results, published in January, the firm reported group revenue of 3.6 billion pounds ($4.8 billion), up 2%, and profit before tax of 576 million pounds, up 14%. Jon Holt, KPMG’s group chief executive and UK senior partner, said then that “despite the difficult market” the firm had kept investing in technology, AI and its talent pipeline. 4
KPMG is hardly alone. Reuters reported PwC planned around 600 UK job cuts in 2023 after low attrition and subdued growth, while Deloitte moved to cut more than 800 UK roles that year as clients turned more cautious with spending. 5
The wider UK jobs picture is mixed, not broken. In a March labour-market report, Holt said hiring was showing its “strongest signs of improvement in three years,” while REC chief executive Neil Carberry said “the worst of the hiring slowdown has passed” but warned there could still be “a few bumpy months” ahead. 2
KPMG has also been explicit about the technology shift behind the reshaping. The firm said AI is “now in the hands of every auditor” through its Clara audit platform, while advisory teams are using AI agents as “digital teammates” — software tools meant to take on routine tasks and speed analysis. 6
That leaves a clear uncertainty. If the consultation changes the plan or more staff leave voluntarily, the final tally could come in below 440. But KPMG also said in January that it remained focused on managing costs because of “ongoing headwinds” and industry-wide low attrition, which suggests the pressure may not fade quickly if demand stays soft. 1
For now, KPMG is trying to hold two lines at once: that it is still investing in people, skills and technology, and that it needs fewer trained auditors in a market that has turned uneven. The planned consultation will show how far that reset runs. 1
