KPMG support jobs face pressure as firms flatten operations

Support work is becoming the first place Big Four firms are cutting, and KPMG employees are seeing the pressure show up in very practical ways. A May 21 roundup from Accounting Today said PwC, EY, KPMG and Deloitte had all cut support staff in the past 12 months, while a Bloomberg feature the same day described professional-services firms as lowering costs by laying off support staff, outsourcing tasks to technology and moving jobs to cheaper geographies. For KPMG people, the exposed roles are the ones that keep the machine moving every day: executive assistants, schedulers, document formatting, travel coordination and other high-volume administrative tasks.

That shift is not just about headcount. It is changing how KPMG wants work delivered. In its own outsourcing materials, the firm said traditional outsourcing is expected to fall from 55% of service delivery to 37% within two years, while software-based delivery is expected to rise from 14% to 30%. KPMG also said 81% of companies want providers to be strategic collaborators rather than vendors, and three out of four want help with transformational outcomes instead of simple transactional cost takeout. The message is clear: the firm sees the market moving away from labor arbitrage and toward technology, platforms and delivery models that can be standardized, measured and scaled.

The restructuring is already visible inside KPMG’s own workforce. Accounting Today reported on April 30 that KPMG was laying off about 4% of its U.S. advisory practice. On April 24, it reported that KPMG was eliminating about 100 U.S. audit partners after an early-retirement program fell short. KPMG UK has also planned to cut roughly 6% of its 7,100-person audit division. Bloomberg Tax said KPMG’s U.S. audit practice has about 1,400 partners and managing directors, which puts the partner tier under pressure as well. When firms flatten the pyramid this way, the effect is not only fewer seats. It can also mean fewer apprenticeship layers for junior staff and a harder climb toward promotion and partnership.

The clearest illustration is in Australia, where the Australian Financial Review reported that KPMG planned to move about 200 of its 260 executive assistant roles to the Philippines. That would affect about three-quarters of KPMG Australia’s executive assistants and roughly 2% of the firm’s 9,000 employees, while saving about A$17 million a year in wages. For the people left behind, the immediate consequence is more self-service and more coordination work pushed back onto client teams and managers. The day-to-day may feel faster and more digital, but also less buffered when deadlines hit.

None of this points to a firm in financial distress. KPMG International said global revenue reached $39.8 billion for the year ended September 30, 2025, up 5.1% in local-currency terms. KPMG Australia reported FY25 revenue of A$2.315 billion and said profitability improved through cost control, productivity enhancements and business realignment. That is the larger story for KPMG employees: support jobs are under pressure not because the model is failing, but because firms are redesigning it around AI, offshore delivery and a flatter operating structure that rewards judgment, client trust and technology oversight over routine coordination.