EY’s Australian revenues down slightly to $2.4 billion
Global professional services firm Ernst & Young has posted Australian revenues of $2.4 billion for its past financial year, the 3 percent downturn on the previous period less than that of its Big Four rivals.
Despite its second consecutive year of diminished returns, the $2.43 billion figure for Ernst & Young’s 2025 financial year narrows the gap to Deloitte’s standing at the top of the local Big Four leaderboard, the latter shrinking by 8 percent to $2.55 billion.
While difficult to measure due to recent organisational restructures across the board, EY’s consulting business also appears to have suffered the least damage compared to its rivals, down by 10 percent as opposed to as much as 18 percent in the case of KPMG.
EY’s own major new business line – its globally-merged strategy & transactions practice under the EY-Parthenon brand – was also slightly down to $442 million, while assurance remained steady at $714 million and the firm’s tax line proved its best performer, bringing in $636 million to be up by almost 5 percent. Consulting still accounted for the bulk of total revenues, at $930 million.
“Government, financial services and corporate clients continued to reprioritise in response to changes in the economic, geopolitical and domestic environments, resulting in uncertainty and cost constraints,” stated EY Oceania chief executive David Larocca, “But despite a difficult environment, our results show strong performances by our market-leading tax and assurance lines”
While stating his renewed optimism for the current period, Larocca cited the defence, consumer products & retail, advanced manufacturing, and real estate sectors as among those achieving positive growth, with the firm also pointing to its AI-focused strategy and the recently-launched EY Studio+ business which aims to tap into the CX and digital marketing segment.
Additionally, the firm has seen increased demand for its sustainability services, according to Larocca; “In anticipation of ongoing market disruption, we have spent much of the past year accelerating and investing in capabilities that respond to emerging client needs, including our transformation capabilities around helping our clients shape and execute AI strategies,”
Personnel-wise, EY added 51 new partners over its previous financial year, with a fairly even split between promotions and recruits to ease its overall number down by about 30 to just under 700, while its total headcount shrunk by more than 500 – or 6 percent – to now sit below 7,800, despite bringing in almost 600 fresh-faced, AI-savvy graduates across the country.
“We remain steadfast in our commitment to embed a diverse, respectful and inclusive culture in our everyday business,” Larocca concluded. “We are focused on enhancing leadership across the firm, driving mass adoption of AI tools to create more sustainable workloads, and increasing learning and development to empower our people to shape their future with confidence.”
