Accenture, an Irish-American IT firm, has announced a 19% reduction in its workforce. This comes amid a deteriorating global economic outlook and a hiring binge in the IT sector. The company also expects a significant drop in annual sales due to predictions that major corporations will cut their IT budgets as a result of the financial crisis. The company now expects yearly sales growth of 8% to 10%, down from the previously expected range of 8% to 11%.
Accenture’s statement comes amid a wave of layoffs in the IT and technology sectors
According to a business statement, revenue for the upcoming quarter is likely to range between $16.1 billion and $16.7 billion. Accenture reported a 13% growth in new bookings to $22.1 billion for the quarter, while revenues climbed by 5% to $15.8 billion. Accenture reported $244 million in business optimization expenses during the second quarter. The corporation expects its overall costs to be close to $1.5 billion through the fiscal year 2024. More than half of the layoffs will affect staff at non-billable corporate operations, according to the corporation. Before the closing bell, the company’s stock rose 4%.
Accenture’s statement comes amid a wave of layoffs in the IT and technology sectors. Google, Meta, and Amazon have already initiated a wave of layoffs, which analysts anticipate will endure at least through the first part of 2023. Amazon has announced additional 9,000 job cuts across its cloud services, advertising, and Twitch departments, as fears of a future recession deepen. Since September of last year, Meta has also decreased its entire staff by 20,000 people. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has cautioned that the current climate of layoffs could persist for many years.