Party spirit is in short supply at the Big Four

Christmas parties at the Big Four are likely to be more subdued affairs this year as costs are reigned in due to the economic crisis.

With the country on the brink of a recession and a raft of company collapses and job cuts, throwing a lavish Christmas party can create damaging publicity for companies.

A spokesman for Deloitte said this year’s Christmas celebrations were at the discretion of individual departments, but said he expected events to be much lower key than usual.

‘Whether they choose to celebrate in some way is up to them. They may decide to have their own party or meal,’ he said.

A spokeswoman for PricewaterhouseCoopers said the firm does not hold a company-wide party and that arrangements are made within individual divisions. ‘Teams manage their arrangements at a local level and we anticipate that events this year will be on a similar basis to last year,’ she said.

A KPMG spokeswoman said arrangements were going ahead as originally planned, but declined to comment further.

Ernst & Young’s spokeswoman said the firm ‘never issues figures on Christmas party budgets’, saying that individual teams would be celebrating ‘in many different ways’.