PwC graduate roles under threat from AI, accountancy firm boss says

The expansion of synthetic intelligence (AI) could finally result in fewer entry-level graduates being employed, the boss of accountancy big PwC has advised the BBC.

Nevertheless, world chairman Mohamed Kande mentioned AI was not behind current job cuts on the agency, including that the corporate really wanted to rent a whole bunch of latest AI engineers however was struggling to seek out them.

However some observers say the know-how itself threatens hundreds of junior jobs throughout the skilled companies business.

Talking on the sidelines of a enterprise summit in Singapore, Mr Kande additionally mentioned huge modifications within the world financial system, comparable to US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, had been good for the agency’s consulting enterprise.

He additionally addressed the corporate’s suspension in China final 12 months over its work on the collapsed property big Evergrande, promising that the identical errors “wouldn’t occur once more”.

Headquartered in London, PwC is among the Large 4 accountancy companies. It offers a variety of companies, comparable to monetary auditing, consulting and tax recommendation for enterprise shoppers around the globe.

Based on Mr Kande, advising them on easy methods to combine AI into their operations shall be on the coronary heart of the agency’s future enterprise technique, even because the quickly advancing know-how impacts its personal hiring plans.

Companies who would have beforehand employed PwC consultants to sift via knowledge and paperwork could now use AI fashions as an alternative, turning weeks of pricey work into mere minutes.

Yearly, the corporate hires hundreds of latest graduates in entry-level positions – together with 1,300 within the UK and three,200 within the US final 12 months – nevertheless it lately dropped long-term plans to proceed rising its headcount.

In 2021, PwC mentioned it wished to rent 100,000 individuals over the course of 5 years – however Mr Kande mentioned this might not be doable.

“After we made the plans to rent that many individuals, the world appeared very, very completely different,” he mentioned.

“Now we’ve got synthetic intelligence. We wish to rent, however I do not know if it will be the identical stage of people who we rent – will probably be a special set of individuals.”

Final 12 months, PwC minimize greater than 5,600 roles throughout its worldwide operation.

The boss of the corporate’s UK enterprise has beforehand spoken about lowering graduate recruitment, admitting that AI was “definitely reshaping roles”.

At a world stage, nevertheless, Mr Kande insisted that the AI increase was an “thrilling time” for creating new jobs.

“We’re searching for a whole bunch and a whole bunch of engineers at this time to assist us drive our AI agenda, however we simply can’t discover them,” he mentioned.

Companies around the globe could also be dealing with challenges adapting to AI, however within the meantime PwC seems to have benefited from the broader uncertainty within the world financial system, largely fuelled by President Trump’s intensive use of tariffs.

“We’re receiving a whole lot of calls from many corporations around the globe asking easy methods to navigate the present setting,” mentioned Mr Kande.

“It has been good for us. We have to stay related to our shoppers and we’ve got to be in these discussions, which we’re.”

Nevertheless, the corporate took an enormous reputational blow final 12 months, when Chinese authorities suspended PwC for six months over its work on the collapsed property big Evergrande.

The agency went bust after amassing money owed of greater than $300bn (£230bn) and has been on the centre of a ruinous housing disaster that continues to break lives and livelihoods in China.

The nation’s Securities Regulatory Fee discovered that PwC, because the auditor, had “coated up and even condoned” monetary fraud at Evergrande.

Mr Kande, whose tenure as world chairman started after Evergrande went bankrupt, mentioned PwC not confronted any restrictions in China.

“Let me let you know – we modified a lot of our individuals, applied new high quality administration techniques and launched new governance techniques,” he mentioned.

“My focus has been to ensure nothing like this ever occurs once more.”