Partner promotions at the Big Four accounting firms in the UK hit a five-year low for the 2025 cycle, underlining the sector’s struggle to protect profits as slowing demand for consulting services erodes revenues.
The number of promotions to partner status at Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC in the UK fell to 179 this year, down from a peak of 276 three years ago, according to analysis of documents including reports, press releases, LinkedIn posts and Companies House filings.
Deloitte and PwC both promoted the lowest number of partners in five years and EY elevated less than half its 2022 total, while KPMG bucked the trend after ending a multiyear promotion pause.
The Big Four are racing to protect profits for their roughly 3,000 equity partners, including by cutting promotions to their senior ranks following a decline in demand for advisory services. They have also taken steps such as reducing pay rises and bonuses and making redundancies.
RM Block
The firms embarked on a hiring and promotion spree during a pandemic boom that has now deflated, reducing revenue growth and sparking cost cuts.
In the UK, Deloitte promoted 60 people to partner this year, compared with 124 in 2022. The firm now has nearly 800 equity partners, but in its promotion figures does not reveal the breakdown between those with and without equity stakes. Equity partners jointly own the firms and share the profits each year.
PwC named 40 equity partners this year – almost half the 2022 figure – bringing the total to 1,024.
EY added 34 equity partners this year, down from 74 in 2022, meaning its total has fallen below 800.
KPMG has the smallest number of partners of the Big Four at about 460 after promoting 45 in its main October round this year and 42 last year.
Laura Empson, professor of management at Bayes Business School, said the decline in partner promotions was partly due to the Big Four trying to assess the impact generative AI would have on their core activities.
“It is not simply a question of whether potential partners are capable of generating enough work this year to justify their promotion, but whether they will generate a substantial stream of income for the foreseeable future – and right now the future is particularly hard to foresee,” she said.
Deloitte’s UK business suffered its first decline in annual revenue in 15 years and PwC’s revenue growth flattened, the firms said when they reported annual results in September.
EY’s revenues rose 2 per cent in what it called a “challenging market”. KPMG is yet to report its 2025 results but reported a 1 per cent rise in revenues last year in a sharp slowdown from 9 per cent growth for 2023.
Nevertheless, average partner payouts have risen across the four firms, hitting record levels at £816,000 (€925,000) for KPMG and more than £1 million at Deloitte.
KPMG promoted almost no one to equity partner between 2021 and 2023, when Jon Holt took the reins and overhauled the firm following years of reputational damage. It also culled the senior ranks in 2023, leaving its partnership at its smallest in more than two decades.
Overall equity partner numbers have decreased for the first time in five years. The total across the four firms increased by about 80 partners annually between 2021 and 2024, but this year has fallen by about the same number to about 3,050.
Deloitte, EY and KPMG have introduced a “salaried partner” rank that is regarded in the industry as a way of retaining staff without sharing the spoils of partnership.
PwC, the only firm to maintain an equity-only partnership, last year introduced a “managing director” title to retain top employees it is unwilling to make partners. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
