Big Five hit hard by economic downturn
The Big Five firms are growing increasingly pessimistic about their ability to survive the current economic downturn unscathed.
Ernst & Young this week posted global results that shows growth slowed by half, Andersen has warned its current financial year is being adversely affected by the terrorist attacks in the US, and PricewaterhouseCoopers is reported to be about to fall short of profit targets.
Deloitte & Touche is working to pull together financial results within the next couple of weeks, much earlier than otherwise expected. KPMG was unable to comment.
E&Y’s global results show the firm has grown by just 7% for the year ending 30 June, instead of the 14% last year.
Andersen said revenue had grown by 15% in the year to 31 August, but warned that the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon were already affecting revenues.
A spokesman for PwC dismissed a weekend report that the firm was about to miss targets by almost 20%. The report also quoted an unnamed partner predicting an ‘awful’ future.
Several of the firms have announced redundancies and cut graduate recruitment.
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