“四大”某记推迟部分应届生入职时间！

据 《金融时报》（ Financial Times ） 2024年10月13日的报道， 安永美国推迟了为其精品战略咨询公司帕特农（ Parthenon ）招聘的应届毕业生的入职时间。

根据《金融时报》看到的一份内部信息， 安永已告知约200名原定于下月或2025年1月入职美国帕特农的新员工，入职时间将至少推迟至明年年中。

据知情人士透露，在与员工的电话会议上，EY- Parthenon 的高管们将原因归咎于并购和私募股权交易市场低迷，这意味着自该公司7月份财年开始以来，咨询业务收入增长一直低于预期。

许多大型咨询公司推迟了去年招聘的新员工的入职日期，这意味着他们最近才吸收了这批员工。 EY- Parthenon 两次推迟了2023年新员工的入职日期。

据知情人士透露， 该公司将向受影响的员工提供1.2万至3.5万美元不等的津贴，具体数额取决于他们最初的入职日期，以及他们是持有本科学位还是MBA学位。

据一位熟悉内情的人士透露， EY- Parthenon 还削减了明年夏天的实习名额 ，希望能使招聘工作恢复平衡。表现优异的实习生通常会获得下一年的工作机会。

咨询公司的领导层仍然对未来一年的强劲走势持乐观态度。并购交易是咨询工作需求的一个重要来源，2024年前三个季度，全球并购交易数量降至九年来的最低点，但一些跨国公司之间的超大型交易重新出现，表明整体活动有可能反弹。

毕马威美国（KPMG US）首席执行官Paul Knopp表示 ， 毕马威今年没有必要推迟新员工的入职日期，目前正在增加校园招聘 ，以“适应我们眼中2025年的强劲经济”。

原文报道如下：

EY has pushed back start dates for new graduates hired for its elite strategy adviser Parthenon, as big accounting and consulting firms continue to wrestle with the effects of a business slowdown.

EY has told about 200 recruits who were due to start work at Parthenon in the US next month or in January that they will not be needed until the middle of next year, according to an internal message seen by the Financial Times.

On a call with staff, EY-Parthenon bosses blamed a disappointing market for mergers and acquisitions and private equity activity, meaning advisory revenue growth has been slower than expected since the start of the firm’s fiscal year in July, according to people familiar with the discussion.

The decision to push back start dates comes as other US firms are also struggling to predict demand for consulting services, which boomed during the coronavirus pandemic but has slowed sharply since. The Big Four — EY, PwC, KPMG and Deloitte — and specialist consultancies such as McKinsey are continuing to recruit graduates in their thousands in anticipation of an acceleration in growth, but they have largely kept starting salaries flat, according to student counsellors.

“The second half of this year has been a bit less buoyant than people were hoping for,” said Fiona Czerniawska, chief executive of Source Global Research, a consulting sector analyst, who said the US consulting market was expected to have grown modestly overall in 2024.

“The green shoots are growing, but they are growing quite slowly,” she said. “When most firms look at their pipelines of future work, they’re very strong, but it’s taking longer for that work to come through.”

Many large consulting firms delayed start dates for new recruits who were hired last year, meaning they have only recently absorbed that cohort. EY-Parthenon twice pushed back start dates for its 2023 recruits.

EY said the decision to delay start dates for a second year running was made “after careful consideration of the current M&A environment and our business needs” and that it would “ensure that our new joiners have the quality and breadth of assignments to ensure a successful start and strong professional trajectory”.

The firm will provide stipends ranging from $12,000 to $35,000 to those affected, depending on their original start date and whether they are joining with an undergraduate degree or an MBA, according to a person familiar with the figures.

EY-Parthenon has also cut the number of slots for internships next summer, according to a person familiar with the matter, as it tries to bring its recruiting back into balance. Successful interns often get job offers for the following year.

Students expecting to graduate next year with bachelor’s degrees or MBAs are being offered starting salaries at the big consulting firms that are at the same level as the past two years, according to Namaan Mian, chief operating officer of Management Consulted, which coaches students through the recruitment process.

“There is strong enough demand for consulting roles that it is still heavily outweighing supply,” he said, meaning big firms do not feel the need to raise pay to attract students, particularly since starting salaries remain subdued in competing professions, such as banking or technology.

“I am not seeing any firm in the Big Four or [McKinsey, BCG and Bain] making the first move, although we will see if anyone blinks before the end of the year.”

Consulting firm bosses remain optimistic for a stronger year ahead. The number of M&A deals, a critical source of demand for advisory work, fell to a nine-year low globally in the first three quarters of 2024, but the re-emergence of some very large deals among multinationals pointed to a potential rebound in overall activity.

“We’re starting to see, with more clarity around the direction of interest rates, the potential for a lot more activity on the private equity side, where there’s an enormous amount of cash that’s investable,” said Paul Knopp, chief executive of KPMG US.

He said KPMG had not needed to defer start dates for new recruits this year and was increasing campus hiring to “calibrate to what we see as a strong economy in 2025”.