Accenture axing 19,000 jobs worldwide to slash costs

Consulting firm Accenture has revealed it is axing around 19,000 jobs across its worldwide workforce, including the UK, over the next 18 months.

The New York-listed group said the cuts – about 2.5% of its 738,000-strong employee base – will largely affect its corporate support teams rather than client-facing staff, with more than half going across departments such as human resources, IT, finance and marketing.

The company confirmed the UK will be affected, but declined to provide a breakdown of cuts per country.

Accenture has about 11,000 workers in the UK and offices nationwide, including sites in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Leeds.

It is also closing offices globally as part of the plans to save around 1.5 billion US dollars (£1.2 billion), of which around 800 million US dollars (£651 million) will be delivered this year and the remainder in 2024.

The group said: “While we continue to hire, especially to support our strategic growth priorities, during the second quarter of fiscal 2023 we initiated actions to streamline our operations and transform our non-billable corporate functions to reduce costs.”

The job losses adds to a wider cull across the corporate and technology sectors, with Amazon, Facebook owner Meta, and Just Eat recently announcing more hefty cuts.

Accenture previously slashed jobs across the UK at the height of the pandemic in 2020, when up to 900 roles were axed.

The latest round of cuts come after the group reported a 5% rise in quarterly revenue and better-than-expected earnings.