Job Cuts Continue: Accenture Lays Off 19,000 Employees

Accenture, an Irish American professional services company, has announced its plans to cut 19,000 jobs worldwide in an effort to reduce costs amidst a challenging economic climate.

In a recent filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Accenture revealed that it will spend $1.2 billion in severance to cut 2.5% of its workforce over the next 18 months, with an additional $300 million dedicated to consolidating its office space.

The majority of the job losses will be among back-office staff.

Although Accenture continues to hire, it has taken steps to streamline its operations and transform its non-billable corporate functions to reduce costs.

The $167 billion company has also downgraded its revenue growth outlook for the 2023 fiscal year to between 8% and 10%, from its previous estimate of between 8% and 11%.

The news of the job cuts has seen a rise in Accenture shares by 3.9% to $263 per share in early trade. The company’s New York-listed stock has seen a decline of more than 5% over the past 12 months.

Accenture’s rivals are also looking to trim their costs, with consulting giant KPMG planning to cut almost 2% of its US workforce as it anticipates waning client demand, while McKinsey could also cut as many as 2,000 non-consulting staff in one of its biggest rounds of layoffs ever, according to Bloomberg.

The tech industry has also seen significant job losses in recent months due to higher interest rates, inflation, and recession fears, with Facebook-parent Meta announcing plans to lay off another 10,000 workers last week, reducing its headcount by about 25%.

Question is, which company will lay a set of their employees, next?