The growth of artificial intelligence (AI) may eventually lead to fewer entry-level graduates being hired, the boss of accountancy giant PwC has told the BBC.
However, global chairman Mohamed Kande said AI was not behind recent job cuts at the firm, adding that the company actually needed to hire hundreds of new AI engineers but was struggling to find them.
But some observers say the technology itself threatens thousands of junior jobs across the professional services industry.
Speaking on the sidelines of a business summit in Singapore, Mr Kande also said big changes in the global economy, such as US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, had been good for the firm’s consulting business.
He also addressed the company’s suspension in China last year over its work on the collapsed property giant Evergrande, promising that the same mistakes “would not happen again”.
Headquartered in London, PwC is one of the Big Four accountancy firms. It provides a range of services, such as financial auditing, consulting and tax advice for business clients around the world.
According to Mr Kande, advising them on how to integrate AI into their operations will be at the heart of the firm’s future business strategy, even as the rapidly advancing technology affects its own hiring plans.
Firms who would have previously hired PwC consultants to sift through data and documents may now use AI models instead, turning weeks of costly work into mere minutes.
Every year, the company hires thousands of new graduates in entry-level positions – including 1,300 in the UK and 3,200 in the US last year – but it recently dropped long-term plans to continue increasing its headcount.
In 2021, PwC said it wanted to hire 100,000 people over the course of five years – but Mr Kande said this would no longer be possible.
“When we made the plans to hire that many people, the world looked very, very different,” he said.
“Now we have artificial intelligence. We want to hire, but I don’t know if it’s going to be the same level of people that we hire – it will be a different set of people.”
Last year, PwC cut more than 5,600 roles across its worldwide operation.
The boss of the company’s UK business has previously spoken about reducing graduate recruitment, admitting that AI was “certainly reshaping roles”.
At a global level, however, Mr Kande insisted that the AI boom was an “exciting time” for creating new jobs.
“We are looking for hundreds and hundreds of engineers today to help us drive our AI agenda, but we just cannot find them,” he said.
Trade turmoil ‘good for us’
Businesses around the world may be facing challenges adapting to AI, but in the meantime PwC appears to have benefited from the broader uncertainty in the global economy, largely fuelled by President Trump’s extensive use of tariffs.
“We are receiving a lot of calls from many companies around the world asking how to navigate the current environment,” said Mr Kande.
“It’s been good for us. We need to remain relevant to our clients and we have to be in these discussions, which we are.”
However, the company took a huge reputational blow last year, when Chinese authorities suspended PwC for six months over its work on the collapsed property giant Evergrande.
The firm went bust after amassing debts of more than $300bn (£230bn) and has been at the centre of a ruinous housing crisis that continues to damage lives and livelihoods in China.
The country’s Securities Regulatory Commission found that PwC, as the auditor, had “covered up and even condoned” financial fraud at Evergrande.
Mr Kande, whose tenure as global chairman began after Evergrande went bankrupt, said PwC no longer faced any restrictions in China.
“Let me tell you – we changed many of our people, implemented new quality management systems and introduced new governance systems,” he said.
“My focus has been to make sure nothing like this ever happens again.”
By BBC News
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