KPMG to cut 10% of its audit partners in US to streamline operations as voluntary retirement plan fails
KPMG announced it would lay off nearly 10% of its U.S. audit partners after a year-long effort to force partners to voluntarily retire early failed to produce sufficient exits. Wall StreetJournal reported.
While the company did not disclose the exact number of people affected, according to reports, approximately 100 partners will leave the firm. Some have agreed to leave through voluntary early retirement, while others are part of the latest cuts.
KPMG is one of the Big Four accounting firms, along with Deloitte, PwC and EY. Approximately 1,400 partners and managing directors work in the audit division, according to the company’s January audit quality report. Accordingly Wall StreetJournalGeneral managers are not included in the current cuts.
Streamlining Operations
The firm said the layoffs were to streamline operations in its audit business rather than to address individual underperformance.
“This action is linked to a multi-year strategy to align the size, shape and skills of our team with the strength of our audit platform to best serve our clients and protect capital markets,” KPMG said in a statement. He added that laid-off partners will receive financial packages and placement support that “reflect the value they provide to KPMG and our clients.”
Despite the cuts, KPMG said its U.S. audit business is growing. The firm audits approximately 10% of companies registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, according to an Ideagen Audit Analytics report published in March.
This places KPMG behind its rivals; Deloitte audits 15% of US-listed companies, EY 13% and PwC 12%.
Layoffs are everywhere
KPMG’s layoffs come after Meta announced plans to cut more than 8,000 jobs and leave 6,000 roles vacant as it ramps up spending on artificial intelligence (AI). Meanwhile, Microsoft is offering voluntary buyouts to approximately 8,750 employees in the United States, covering about 7% of its domestic workforce.
In fact, more than 81,200 employees have been laid off by 97 tech companies so far in 2026, according to Layoffs.fyi, an independent, real-time tracker of job losses in tech and startup sectors worldwide.
Popular sneaker brand Nike also announced that it will shrink its technology department by cutting 1,400 roles. This was the second round of layoffs Nike announced this year; In January, it was reported that 775 roles had been eliminated.
Collectively, these announcements led to more than 24,000 job cuts in the United States in a single day.
