Accenture slashes 19,000 jobs worldwide

The Irish-American professional services company said in a Thursday filing that it would spend $1.2 billion in severance to cut 2.5% of its workforce over the next 18 months, and another $300 million to consolidate its office space.

Accenture (ACN), which has 738,000 employees globally, said in its latest quarterly report to the Securities and Exchange Commission that it continues to hire, but had “initiated actions to streamline [its] operations and transform our non-billable corporate functions to reduce costs.”

The $167 billion company downgraded its revenue growth outlook for the 2023 fiscal year to between 8% and 10%, from its previous estimate of between 8% and 11%.

Shares in Accenture rose 3.9% to hit $263 apiece in early trade after its announcement. The New York-listed stock is down by more than 5% over the past 12 months.

Accenture’s rivals are also trying to trim their costs. Consulting giant KPMG announced in an internal memo last month that it would cut almost 2% of its US workforce as it anticipated waning client demand, according to a Financial Times report.

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