EY UK bounces back with growth in most divisions but consulting lags
Big Four giant EY UK has seen a bounce back after its fee income grew by 2 per cent over the last financial year to £3.78bn, with the majority of its divisions seeing growth.
The firm’s distributable profits before tax grew by over 3 per cent, from £653m in FY24 to £679m, while the giant also reported that its average distributable profit per partner increased by 9 per cent, from £723,000 to £787,000.
EY saw revenue growth of 10 per cent for its strategy and transactions business, 5 per cent for tax, and 3 per cent for assurance, while its financial services and consumer and health were the firm’s top-performing industry sectors, growing by 5 per cent and 9 per cent, respectively.
However, the firm’s consulting revenues decreased 6 per cent, reflecting more difficult trading conditions.
Over the last financial year, the firm hired nearly 2,400 people and admitted 59 new equity partners. This comes as the firm axed dozens of senior partners earlier this year and made around 150 senior consulting roles redundant in early 2025.
Tech investment
“While the economic environment remains unpredictable and challenging, we have a clear strategy to drive our business forward and better support our clients,” Anthony stated.
Like the rest of the Big Four giants, EY had continued over the last financial year to make significant investments in technology, resources, and training, including a $1bn (£749m) global investment in audit technology, AI, and advanced data analytics.
As part of the firm’s investment in new technologies, EY launched the EY.ai Agentic Platform in March 2025, in collaboration with NVIDIA, to provide custom frameworks for designing and deploying responsible agentic AI solutions for EY teams and clients.
EY also rolled out Microsoft 365 Copilot across its UK business, with over 12,000 users.
The UK’s Big Four firms were reported to be sharply pulling back on graduate recruitment, as artificial intelligence (AI) begins replacing junior roles once filled by school and university graduates.
Since January 2024, EY has welcomed 1,600 graduates, school leavers, and interns, and although it hasn’t released its latest figures, it is understood that this year’s figures were consistent with last year’s.
However, that report in June noted that KPMG has cut its graduate openings by over 30 per cent, followed by Deloitte at 18 per cent, and EY and PwC at 11 per cent and 6 per cent, respectively.
Anne-Marie Balfe, EY strategic talent leader at EY UK and Ireland, previously said: “The recruitment and retention of top talent at every level of our firm and across all parts of the UK is, and always has been, a strategic imperative for our business and fundamental to the delivery of our growth ambitions.”