Big Four firms emerge top poachers of IT talent

Over 15% of the net addition by the Big Four accounting firms – Deloitte, EY, PwC, and KPMG – are from the top five IT companies in FY22.

Experts say better pay and the addition of global companies to their bio-data make employees opt for the Big Four, even as these firms expand their presence in the country to strengthen their tech offerings and platforms related to tax and accounting.

Accounting firms such as Deloitte and EY have hired more employees on a net basis in the year ending March 31, and the two companies have become one of the top recruiters of IT talent laterally, according to data shared by specialist staffing firm Xpheno.

The study of the Big Four talent movement shows a majority of the top five sources that they have hired from last year are IT companies.

“It is interesting to note that the Big Fours are losing talent to their consulting counterparts and competitors, but gaining talent from IT companies,” said Anil Ethanur, co-founder of Xpheno

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Why the churn?
The Big Four are no longer audit and accounting firms alone.

With the infusion of technology in auditing, data analytics, consulting and forensic services provided by these companies, the role of technology professionals has grown manifold.

These companies have also been providing advisory services in terms of strategy and execution of technological and digital transformations.

The Big Four and consulting companies are ranked better in terms of compensation as the pay and annual increases are in line with global standards, say human resource experts.

A tech professional’s salary in the Big Four’s tech centres has always been 15-20% higher compared to the salary at Indian counterparts.

“Big Four has expanded big time in recent years in India compared to pre-Covid-19 times. Also, more work is getting outsourced to India,” said Aditya Mishra, chief executive of CIEL HR Services. “The accounting companies are also selling Cloud-based platforms and products. Since, they are…in the finance-side of companies, they have an upper hand in selling these products.”

The platforms are based on audit, accounts and taxation domains, but need technical talent to develop them.

Working for the Big Four also means better onsite opportunities for companies.

Apart from having a global brand on your bio-data, the chances of one going onsite is much higher as the lottery pool of winning an onsite opportunity is relatively smaller, Ethanur said.

“The Big Four accounting firms have registered a record annual (headcount) growth across their operations in India. This growth has been built on top of experienced lateral talent that the Big Four has drawn from IT service bellwethers. Over the last year, a mix of Indian and multinational IT service companies have been tapped for the talent needs of the Big Four’s Indian workforce,” Ethanur added.