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

The growth of artificial intelligence (AI) could eventually lead to fewer entry-level graduates being hired, the boss of accounting giant PwC has told the BBC.

However, global president Mohamed Kande said artificial intelligence was not behind the recent layoffs at the company, adding that the company actually needed to hire hundreds of new AI engineers but was having trouble finding them.

But some observers say the technology itself threatens thousands of young jobs in the professional services sector.

Speaking on the sidelines of a business summit in Singapore, Mr Kande also said major changes in the global economy, such as US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, were good for the firm’s consulting business.

He also touched on the company’s suspension last year for its work on property giant Evergrande, which collapsed in China, and vowed the same mistakes “will not happen again”.

Headquartered in London, PwC is one of the Big Four accounting firms. It provides a variety of services such as financial auditing, consulting and tax advisory to business clients worldwide.

According to Mr. Kande, advising them on how to integrate AI into their operations will be central to the firm’s future business strategy, even as rapidly advancing technology impacts their own hiring plans.

Firms that previously hired PwC consultants to review data and documents can now turn weeks of costly work into mere minutes by using artificial intelligence models instead.

The company hires thousands of new graduates in entry-level roles each year (including 1,300 in the UK and 3,200 in the US last year) but has recently abandoned long-term plans to continue increasing headcount.

PwC said it wanted to hire 100,000 people over five years in 2021, but Mr Kande said that would no longer be possible.

“When we made the plans to hire all these people, the world looked very, very different,” he said.

“We have AI now. We want to hire, but I don’t know if the people we hire will be at the same level; it will be a different group of people.”

Last year, PwC cut more than 5,600 roles across its operations worldwide.

The boss of the company’s UK division has previously spoken of reducing graduate recruitment and admitted that artificial intelligence is “absolutely reshaping roles”.

But on a global level, Mr Kande insisted the AI ​​boom was an “exciting time” to create new jobs.

“Today, we are looking for hundreds of engineers to help us drive our AI agenda, but we can’t find them,” he said.

Businesses around the world may be facing challenges adapting to AI, but in the meantime PwC appears to have benefited from broader uncertainty in the global economy, largely due to President Trump’s heavy use of taxes.

“We are receiving a lot of calls from companies around the world asking how we should operate in the current environment,” Mr. Kande said.

“That’s been good for us. We need to stay committed to our customers and be involved in those discussions, which we are.”

But the company suffered a major reputational blow last year. Chinese authorities suspend PwC for six months For his work on collapsed real estate giant Evergrande.

The firm collapsed after accumulating more than $300bn (£230bn) in debt and is at the center of a devastating housing crisis that continues to damage lives and livelihoods in China.

The country’s Securities Regulatory Commission found that PwC, as auditor, “covered up and even condoned” financial fraud at Evergrande.

Mr. Kande, who took over as global chairman after Evergrande’s collapse, said PwC no longer faced any restrictions in China.

“Let me tell you, we have replaced most of our employees, implemented new quality management systems, and implemented new governance systems,” he said.

“My focus was on making sure something like this never happens again.”