KPMG hiring shifts toward AI roles as audit postings lag
AI postings now outnumber audit roles across the Big Four, signaling a harder road for accountants and a faster track for workers who can blend judgment with data.
The hiring mix is shifting inside the Big Four, and the pressure lands first on accountants who once counted on audit as the broadest entry point into KPMG. New analysis showed Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC advertised more AI-related postings than traditional auditing positions in 2025, with nearly 7% of job ads requiring AI expertise, up from less than 2% in 2022. Auditing roles accounted for just under 3% of postings last year.
For current staff and campus hires, that is more than a staffing statistic. It suggests the professional-services ladder is being rebuilt around people who can pair accounting judgment with data, automation, engineering and AI fluency. Entry-level hires may need stronger digital skills sooner. Managers may be asked to lead teams that include AI specialists and data scientists alongside conventional audit and advisory staff. And the people most likely to move fastest will be those who can translate between client problems and AI capabilities, not just those who know one delivery lane.
KPMG has been signaling that change for some time. In April 2024, Bloomberg Tax reported that KPMG’s global AI leaders wanted to weave generative AI into every part of the organization and that the firm had committed $2 billion to AI the year before. KPMG also said it made a multibillion-dollar commitment to Microsoft cloud and AI services over five years, with the potential to unlock more than $12 billion in incremental growth. The firm’s FY24 results showed why the talent fight matters: global revenues rose to US$38.4 billion and headcount reached 275,288.
The operational side of the pivot is already visible in audit. KPMG said it expanded and accelerated AI integration into KPMG Clara, its global smart audit and assurance platform, in 2025. The firm’s own AI workforce material says it helps clients identify roles and skills affected by generative AI, design new roles and experiences, and reshape the workforce around it. In KPMG’s view, this is not a side project for technologists. It is a firmwide workforce issue.
That is also showing up in how people are managed. KPMG’s Gen AI Pulse Survey data says 81% of leaders plan to include generative AI in performance reviews in 2025, and 19% already do so. The message to professionals is clear: AI competence is moving from optional to table stakes, with training likely to expand into prompt design, data governance, responsible AI and change management.
The recruiting funnel is tightening too. Accountancy Age reported that KPMG cut its UK graduate intake from 1,399 in 2023 to 942 in 2025, a 29% drop, the steepest reduction among the Big Four cited in that account. Taken together, the numbers point to a narrower old-school audit path and a broader expectation that future KPMG talent will arrive fluent in both accounting and AI.
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