The professional services company Deloitte is preparing a profound remodeling of its activity worldwide, which will be organized around four large lines of business instead of the current five with the aim of promoting a more homogeneous global structure that allows reducing the complex organization . of the ‘big four’ [cuatro grandes] and cut costs in the face of the foreseeable market slowdown, as published by the Financial Times.
Under the plan, Deloitte’s main business units will be reduced from five to four: audit and assurance; Audit; Fiscal and Legal; Technology and Transformation; and Strategy, Risks and Transactions.
In this sense, sources familiar with the situation consulted by Europa Press explain that the entity intends to promote a “more homogeneous and cohesive” global structure among international firms, with a presence in 150 countries, with a common structure for all of them.
According to the British media, the CEO of Deloitte, Joe Ucuzoglu, will lead the reorganization, which will take a year to be applied in the more than 150 countries in which the company operates. Deloitte currently employs approximately 455,000 people worldwide.
In the last fiscal year, Deloitte’s global revenue increased 15% to $65 billion, making it the largest ‘big four’. However, after several years of rapid growth, Deloitte, EY, PwC and KPMG are preparing for a tougher year, as the difficult economic context in major markets prompts companies to cut expenses.
Failed division
Deloitte’s new strategy comes after it rejected the possibility of separating its audit and consulting businesses last year and Ucuzoglu publicly dismissed the logic of doing so. EY spent more than a year trying to engineer a spinoff of the company before abandoning the attempt in April last year.
Unlike other multinationals, large consulting companies are managed as a global network of companies linked through a global entity that establishes strategy. The global business is financed by the fees paid by local firms, according to the FT.
As part of the changes, Deloitte’s advisory activities will be reduced to four areas. Its audit and assurance division will remain an independent unit.
