Big four accounting firm PwC to lay off about 1,500 employees in US

Big Four accounting firm PwC is laying off about 1,500 employees in the United States, a company spokesperson told Reuters on Monday. 

The workforce reduction equates to approximately 2 per cent of our US firm, the spokesperson said. 

PwC employs more than 75,000 people in the United States. 

"This was a difficult decision, and we made it with care, thoughtfulness, and a deep awareness of its impact on our people, appreciating that historically low levels of attrition over consecutive years have made it necessary to take this step", PwC said in a statement. 

Last year, Reuters had reported that PwC was considering slashing up to half its financial services auditing staff in China, as a regulatory investigation and an exodus of clients darken business prospects. 

PwC last month shut operations in nine Sub-Saharan African countries following a strategic review. 

KPMG, PwC, EY and Deloitte make up the Big Four accounting firms. 

In November last year, Reuters had reported that KPMG would lay off less than 4 per cent, or about 330 people, of its audit workforce in the United States.  (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)