• Francesca Lagerberg is CEO of Baker Tilly, one of the world's 10 biggest accounting firms.
• In an interview with BI, Lagerberg explained why her firm has managed to buck the downward trend in the sector.
• Lagerberg doesn't want to turn Baker Tilly into a lesser version of a Big Four firm, she told BI.

The Big Four professional services firms lead the accounting and advisory market globally. They have a combined 1.5 million employees, generate billions in annual revenue, and their easily recognizable names draw in scores of eager young graduates annually.

But for all their status, the Big Four have seen a marked drop in growth rate over recent years, and their consultants have been leaving.

Bucking that downward trend in the market is Baker Tilly, a midsize network of around 140 member firms.

Its offering of tax, advisory, and legal services generated global revenue of over $5 billion for the year ending December 2023, an 11% increase from the previous year and a record high for the firm. It's now one of the top 10 accounting firms in the world.

For Baker Tilly, though, the goal isn't growing to the point where the Big Four becomes the Big Five, its CEO Francesca Lagerberg told Business Insider.

"Am I ambitious? Yeah, very," she told BI. "But am I ambitious to be a lesser version of something else?"

"The Big Four Super Tank is an amazing organization, very successful and really good at what they do. We just operate in an environment where midsize firms excite us."

Lagerberg said Baker Tilly's success is due to its great proposition, strong member firms within the network, and the moves those firms have made into bigger markets.

"It's a very good time for us. We've been able to offer what the market needed. We've been in markets where growth has continued and the kind of work that we specialize in seems to have a bit more of an ongoing level."

"In the mid-tier, where we are strongest, firms are looking for that kind of input and advice. So we've been able to offer the services they want, and there hasn't been that drop-off."

Smaller-scale growth has also meant the firm didn't follow the overstaffing fallout that has afflicted bigger names.

On paper, all accounting firms like Baker Tilly appear to offer the same services, but Lagerberg, who's spent her career in professional services, says it's the culture that helps differentiate the firm. It's not just about the services you provide, but offering them in a way that clients would like to have them delivered, she said.

"It is fundamentally about the values and behaviors that we have. We have a very strong people-first approach, and we genuinely mean it," she said.

There are no strict work hours at Baker Tilly that other firms are renowned for. Instead, the company offers its employees unlimited holidays and flexible working. It's an organization whose staff actually get on with each other and that attracts like-minded clients, Lagerberg said.

Being people that others like to do business with is a "much-misunderstood part of how the world goes around," she added.

The private equity wave

The mid-tier sector of professional services firms hasn't avoided the slowdown hitting the Big Four.

Together with economic pressures and high interest rates, the strain is helping drive a new wave of private capital investment in mid-tier accounting firms.

Firms have typically paid out profits to equity partners, who also get a vote on how the firms are run. External cash injections are divesting the control historically promised to partners and shaking up the culture at firms.

In the US and UK, firms like Grant Thornton, Cooper Parry, and EisnerAmper have gone down the private equity route. In 2024, Baker Tilly US did the same, selling a majority stake to private investment groups Hellman & Friedman and Valeas. It was the second-largest deal to be done in the sector.

PE has lots of advantages, but it isn't a golden bullet, Lagerberg told BI. One benefit is that it's providing an influx of capital that's necessary for firms as they evolve with technology and data.

"We used to be a really cap-light business. Now, we're a cap-heavy environment, so it's not surprising that PE is seeing growth," the Baker Tilly CEO said.

It's also bringing about a huge change in the culture that not all partners are happy about.

"A lot of partners they've operated in an environment that's been very similar all their careers, and suddenly in comes an external stakeholder," Lagerberg said. But they also bring a new rigor to firms.

"PE houses are very good at running organizations in an efficient way. I think you'll see an even stronger emphasis on the financials and looking for a return."

The reality for any business is that you can't be future-proof, Lagerberg said. In this era of instability, this is part of the reason companies keep turning to Baker Tilly.

"You will not make all the right decisions because no one quite knows where something is going to go. But you can be future fit. How can you get yourself to a position where you're going to ride out most of it? Some things are going to be amazing opportunities. Are you ready to take them?"

Do you work at a consulting or accounting firm? Contact this reporter in confidence at [email protected] to talk about your experience and the industry.

• Europe's economy has a competitiveness and innovation problem.
• The new Trump administration and Chinese pressure will only squeeze the economic bloc harder.
• These five things could help Europe drive innovation, according to EY's Europe boss, Julie Teigland.

Most EY employees spend their days analyzing individual businesses or conducting audits for clients. But at the upper ends of the EY machine, its leaders are part of the global conversation — consultants to governments and industry groups.

Julie Teigland, the firm's managing partner for Europe, the Middle East, India, and Africa, told Business Insider that in Europe, the big business challenge is a lack of competitiveness and innovation.

This picture only looks set to become more complex as Europe is squeezed between the new Trump administration's expected tariff policy and Chinese retaliation.

In 2025, US GDP growth is expected to be significantly higher than that of Europe. The IMF forecasts 1% growth in the euro area in 2025, compared to 2.7% in the US.

"You don't want the US going twice as fast as Europe. That creates a downward spiral," Teigland told BI.

Teigland said she is trying to drive conversation around what Europe can do to change this.

"We have a million examples of go-getters, but if we don't give them the ecosystem they need, they won't be successful," Teigland told Business Insider.

She believes there are five things Europe can do in the short term to drive innovation and be more competitive.

1. Clearer implementation of regulation

"Over last years the number of regulations and the length of the regulations has more than doubled," Teigland said.

Every member country's market is different, but any time new legislation comes in, it can be implemented in 27 different ways, she said. To stop duplication and inefficiencies, the EU needs to create more alignment on implementation before signing laws, she said.

2. Create a capital markets union

A capital markets union (CMU) would create a single market for capital in the European Union, breaking down barriers that block cross-border investments and allowing nations to share risk.

"We need Europeans to invest in European companies," Teigland told BI. Creating a CMU would "unlock billions" to create more of an innovation ecosystem. She wants to see the EU unbundle fees and allow pension funds to invest in equities with its biggest markets, like Germany.

"Why would you not make that transparent and lower the cost? Why do European mutual funds have to be significantly more expensive than American ones."

3. Support European champions by changing the laws on anti-competition

"We haven't been able to create any European champions in any industry, especially not in tech. Why? Because we don't allow them to combine across borders," said Teigland.

Teigland said the way to foster "champions" — companies that help Europe compete with other economic powers — is to find more balance between regulation that drives protectionism and ones that drive innovation.

The laws on anti-competition need to be changed, particularly for larger companies in late-stage financing, she said.

"Think of all the things that have been knocked out, all the deals that have been brought to the table that Europe has said no way, we're protecting the individual consumers in the individual countries."

4. Stick together against Trump and China

"Both the Chinese and America's strategy has been to pick the Europeans off one by one," Teigland said. But they have to work together to prevent this, she added.

"I think they just have to say, Donald, you're dealing with all of us. We're not going to take a deal for Germany and a deal for Spain."

The EU can use Big Tech litigation as a bargaining chip and offer to scale back its review of companies like Meta, Apple, and Google. They can also use the promise of more defense spending and purchasing US energy.

5. Create a clear investment strategy — especially for defense and industrial spending

Lastly, Teigland thinks Europe needs a clearer investment strategy — "aligning on what we want at the beginning, instead of at the end."

She highlighted the defense and industrial spending plans, noting that even though Trump is expected to increase pressure on the defense industry, there had not been a mapping for industrial policy.

Citing a recent conversation with a NATO General, Teigland highlighted issues with communications technology in tanks. The person shooting the mortars has "to open the lid, use their Apple phone to dial, to call the guy to give him the coordinates because nothing links with each other across Europe," she said.

Teigland told BI that the EU needs a map of who is producing what and how it combines so that it can determine where to invest.

Europe's outlook

It's going to take money to create the ecosystem for success, and combining forces is no small thing for the bureaucracy-heavy EU bloc. But Teigland said she's positive about the direction of change.

Industry groups are aligned about the need to boost competitiveness and trim down regulatory burdens, and senior EU politicians Teigland speaks to are "really listening," she said.

Recent moves by Ursula Von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, are one of the biggest signs things that Europe is getting serious about boosting economic growth.

After winning a new mandate in 2024 to lead the European Commission for another five years, Von der Leyen has said she wants to launch a "simplification revolution" and cut regulatory "red tape" by 25% in the first half of 2025.

Teigland said the aligned structure of Von der Leyen's team also signals a changing wind. "In one way, she's concentrated her power, but it's also huge that each minister has an overlapping area."

It's a microcosm of how Teigland thinks the entire bloc should be acting: "She recognizes the interconnectedness of the topics and the need to consolidate and do a few things well together. That gives me hope."

• The US law market is largely off-bounds to Big Four firms due to ethical rules on legal independence.
• KPMG is close to changing that by securing a unique license in Arizona to practice law.
• Traditional law firms shouldn't feel threatened by the move, a legal expert told Business Insider.

KPMG is one step closer to becoming the first Big Four firm to set up a legal division in the US.

On Tuesday, an Arizona judicial committee unanimously recommended that the state Supreme Court approve KPMG US's application for a unique state license that would allow it to practice law.

If approved, the firm will establish KPMG Law US as an alternative business structure (ABS). The Arizona Supreme Court told BI it would weigh the decision on January 28.

Arizona began its ABS program in 2021, scrapping a rule that prevents non-legal ownership of law firms.

The rule was set by the American Bar Association and only allows licensed lawyers to own or invest in law firms in an effort to prevent conflicting interests.

It has held back the Big Four professional services firms — KPMG, Deloitte, EY, and PwC — from establishing legal divisions in the US as they have done in other key markets.

Practicing law in the US "is something that no Big Four network firm can currently do," Christian Athanasoulas, a partner in KPMG's Tax Division and US head of Tax services, told BI.

The firm does provide business advice to legal clients in the US, he explained, but does "not interpret and apply legal standards to legal questions."

Athanasoulas said advances in technology and the growing demand for alternative legal services made it the right time to establish KPMG Law US, and they were "excited by the opportunity" that Arizona's regulatory reform presented.

"Pending approval, this innovation would differentiate KPMG Law US both in the legal and the consulting markets," he said.

The firm aims to focus primarily on large-scale, process-driven work, such as volume contracting, remediation exercises, and M&A-driven harmonization of contracts.

KPMG will position itself as complementing the services of traditional law firms rather than competing with them. It won't work on complex commercial transactions, trademark disputes, and other areas that are "core capabilities of traditional law firms," Athanasoulas told BI.

What they do have over competitors is the ability to harness KPMG's holistic, global suite of services.

"We see opportunities in the market to provide these required tasks, at scale, with better controls and more standardized outcomes than some existing market participants currently provide," Athanasoulas said.

Their work would not be limited to Arizona but could extend nationally, depending on individual state rules.

KPMG is already a major player in the global legal landscape, providing legal services in more than 80 jurisdictions. In the last financial year, the tax & legal division was KPMG's fastest-growing function, expanding by almost 10%.

The Big Four and the US legal landscape

The pending approval of KPMG Law US's ABS status raises questions about whether the other leading firms will follow suit and whether that will change the nature of the US legal market.

The Arizona Supreme Court said it introduced the ABS program to "transform the public's access to legal services," according to a 2020 press release.

"If the rules stand in the way of making those services available, the rules should change," the Court said.

Over 100 firms have since been approved to practice law under the program. Advocates for the Arizona ABS program say it deepens competition, lowers prices, and facilitates easier access to justice.

Utah is running a similar pilot program, and there are exceptions in Washington, D.C., that allow non-lawyers to hold minority stakes in a law firm. But other states have not yet followed suit.

"The most frequently stated concerns are that non-lawyer ownership or investment will create conflicts or low-quality work because of profit motivations," Brad Blickstein, CEO of Blickstein Group, a legal industry consultancy, told BI.

KPMG said any new firm would be governed by the same high ethical standards that apply to other law firms, and there would be no crossover between legal services clients and audit clients.

Legal experts have been predicting that the Big Four will move into the US law market for several years, Blickstein said. While they may take some work over time, traditional law firms shouldn't feel threatened, he added.

"KPMG is somewhat limited in what it can do as an Arizona law firm, and even in markets like the UK where they have free rein, the Big Four has not put too many law firms out of business.

"I continue to believe that the Big Four will eventually have a meaningful - but not existential - impact on US law firms and legal departments," Blickstein said. "This is a step in that direction, but only a step."

• Staff at WPP are pushing back against the company's new 4-day RTO mandate.
• A public petition calling for the firm to revoke its policy has gained thousands of signatures.
• Shares in the company have fallen by 8% since the policy was announced.

A public petition criticizing advertising giant WPP over its recently announced four-day per-week return-to-office mandate has garnered thousands of signatures.

In an internal memo sent last week, WPP's CEO Mark Read told the company's workforce of more than 100,000 employees that they would be expected to spend an average of four days a week in the office from April.

"I believe that we do our best work when we are together in person," Read wrote in the memo. Since the policy was announced, WPP shares have fallen by 8%.

In response, a group calling itself "Concerned WPP Employees" has created a petition on Change.org calling for the company to revoke the policy.

"WPP's decision seems to be a step backwards in supporting employee wellbeing and work-life balance, citing anecdotal data that either does not exist or has been misrepresented," the petition states.

It argues that "rigid work regimes" like the WPP mandate can have "extensive" mental and social impacts on employees.

The petition calls on Read and WPP leadership to "reconsider this mandate and adopt a policy that respects and prioritises the well-being and preferences of its employees."

The petition's creators told BI that their goal was to "clearly demonstrate how deeply unpopular this mandate from our CEO, Mark Read, is across the global WPP network."

Avenues to take action internally were limited and associated with substantial risk, they said.

"Whilst no official response has so far been provided, we are aware that the sheer volume of signatories so far received has created substantial internal debate across our C-suite leadership population," the petition creators said.

The petition had received over 7,500 signatures in the four days since it was created.

It is not clear how many signatories are WPP employees, as Change.org is a public forum that allows signatures from people outside the organization.

"We can (and will) validate signatories if necessary should our leadership team take the unfortunate decision to challenge the reliability of thousands of employee voices," the petition's creators told BI.

One WPP employee, speaking with BI on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on company policy, said that there had been "palpable dismay" inside the company at the way the policy has been handled.

'We're in the communications business but this could have been done so much better, a lot of people here think," the employee said. "You pick your moments to do something like this. And with a shaky economy and nervous clients, now is not the time to alienate staff."

When asked about the petition, a WPP spokesperson said the company knew the four-day mandate would not be popular with everyone, but said that WPP believed it was "the right policy for the long-term interests of the company as a whole."

"We will take the time to implement it in a collaborative and pragmatic way with our teams," the spokesperson said.

The company previously told BI that it was not implementing the policy until April to give it time to address office capacity and other concerns.

RTO policies haven't gone without challenges. As major companies have turned away from flexible working, many have been criticized by some staff.

After Deutsche Bank mandated staff come in for three days a week, the company faced a wave of backlash from staff who complained about the lack of office space and bottlenecks.

At the German software giant SAP, thousands of staff signed an internal letter saying that they felt "betrayed" by the company's "radical" RTO policy. There have been no reports that the letter altered the company's policy.

Legal routes against RTO mandates are fairly limited. Unless there's a protected reason under established law, such as a medical circumstance, employees have no recourse to take legal action against RTO mandates, Ron Zambrano, the employment litigation chair at the California law firm West Coast Trial Lawyers, previously told BI.

Workers often have little choice but to accept the RTO push or look for a different company, prompting some employment experts to warn that the wave of return-to-office directives could fuel attrition.

Losing talent is a risk some companies are willing to take to get workers back to the office, Ravin Jesuthasan, a future of work expert and author of "The Skills-Powered Organization," previously told BI.

These companies have calculated that they have the legroom to implement stricter policies and perhaps lose some core talent but essentially be fine, Jesuthasan said.

"Some organizations might say, you know what? We've got a really deep pipeline of talent. There's lots of people who want to come work here, and so this is our culture and this is how we're going to sustain our culture," he said.

• Andersen Consulting was once one of the top names in professional services.
• The firm rebranded to Accenture in 2000, and its parent company went bust following the Enron scandal.
• Now Andersen Consulting is making a comeback, The Financial Times reported.

One of the leading consulting brands of the 1990s, whose parent company was brought down in the Enron scandal, is making a comeback.

Andersen Consulting, which was one of the "Big Eight" consulting firms, will relaunch next month, unnamed sources told The Financial Times.

The firm's comeback has been orchestrated by Andersen, a tax business founded in 2002 by former employees from Arthur Andersen, the once-prestigious accounting firm and the parent company of Andersen Consulting. It acquired rights to the Arthur Andersen name in 2014 and renamed itself Andersen in 2019.

Andersen has mostly focused on tax and legal work but has been steadily building a consulting division under the guidance of George Shaheen, a former CEO of Andersen Consulting in its heyday. Shaheen joined the group as a special advisor in 2022, according to his LinkedIn profile.

In the past six months, the company has added 20 member firms focused on consulting from the US and other countries, several of which have connections to the old Andersen Consulting and Arthur Andersen, the FT reported.

"Six months ago, we began building Andersen Consulting, and already we have 108 offices in 66 countries with nearly 3000 employees," Mark Vorsatz, Andersen's CEO, said in a statement sent to Business Insider.

"We're seeing incredibly fast growth. Our goal in three years is to reach a billion dollars in revenue, which I think is very realistic."

"Our global firm has a massive competitive advantage and this scale creates a unique consulting experience that is unrivaled in the crowded consulting space," he added.

The resurrection of Andersen Consulting marks a major comeback for what was once a leading name in professional services.

"Andersen Consulting was the Coca-Cola of professional services," Vorsatz told the FT. "If you are over 40 in business, you know Andersen Consulting."

The original Andersen Consulting split from its parent company, Arthur Andersen, in 2000 and rebranded as Accenture.

One year later, the Andersen name was tarnished when Arthur Andersen became embroiled in the Enron scandal. Executives at Enron, one of the largest energy providers in the US, were found to have hidden billions of dollars in debt by manipulating financial models and lying to investors.

Enron filed for bankruptcy, and thousands of employees lost their jobs and retirement savings.

Arthur Andersen, Enron's auditor, was found guilty of obstruction of justice for shredding its client's auditing documents as the government started its investigation.

The fallout led to Arthur Andersen's collapse in 2002, reducing the "Big Five" global accounting firms to four. It is one of the most dramatic corporate collapses in US history — one year earlier, the firm had reported roughly $9 billion in global revenue.

The rebooted version of Andersen Consulting would not try to compete with Accenture as an outsourcing services provider, Vorsatz told the FT.

• The Panama Canal Authority chief said giving preferential treatment to one country's ships would lead to "chaos."
• Ricaurte Vásquez Morales told The Wall Street Journal: "Rules are rules — and there are no exceptions."
• Trump has accused the canal authority of charging "exorbitant" fees to US ships.

Giving US ships preferential rates to navigate the Panama Canal would "lead to chaos," the head of the canal authority said.

"Rules are rules — and there are no exceptions," Ricaurte Vásquez Morales told The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.

"We cannot discriminate for the Chinese, or the Americans, or anyone else. This will violate the neutrality treaty, international law and it will lead to chaos."

In a news conference at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday, President-elect Donald Trump demanded that US vessels be given preferential treatment.

He also accused the authority of overcharging US ships and of separately seeking funding from the US to repair the waterway. Vásquez Morales denied both those claims, telling the Journal that the authority funds maintenance from the fees it charges and that Panama hadn't requested funding from the US for improvements.

Ships are charged between $300,000 and $1 million depending on their size and type to pass through the canal.

Those charges "apply to all ships from around the world and there are no exceptions," Vásquez Morales told the Journal.

Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of retaking control of the canal, calling the fees "exorbitant" and a "rip-off."

"The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous, especially knowing the extraordinary generosity that has been bestowed to Panama by the US," he said on Truth Social in December.

At Tuesday's news conference, Trump also downplayed Panama's control of the canal and refused to rule out using military force to retake control of the trade route, expanding on a threat he made last month.

"China's basically taken it over. China's at both ends of the Panama Canal. China's running the Panama Canal," the president-elect said.

Vásquez Morales told the Journal: "China has no involvement whatsoever in our operations."

In response to Trump's comments, Panamanian Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-Acha said on Tuesday that only Panamanians operated the canal, adding: "Our canal's sovereignty is not negotiable and is part of our history of struggle and an irreversible conquest."

Trump has also refused to rule out using military force to take control of Greenland, which he said the US needed for "national security purposes."

The 51-mile Panama Canal was officially opened in 1914, creating a new trade route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

The US transferred control to the state-owned Panama Canal Authority in 1999 in accordance with the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, initiated in 1977 by the Carter administration.

Under the treaty, the US has the right to defend the canal from any change to its neutrality.

• The advertising giant WPP is telling workers to come to the office four days a week from April.
• Business Insider obtained the internal memo sent to the company's 114,000 employees.
• "I believe that we do our best work when we are together in person," CEO Mark Read said in the memo.

The advertising giant WPP has told its workforce of more than 100,000 employees to return to the office at least four days a week.

"From the beginning of April this year, the expectation across WPP will be that most of us spend an average of four days a week in the office," WPP CEO Mark Read wrote in a memo sent to staff on Tuesday and seen by Business Insider.

The Financial Times first reported the move.

The policy is set to go into effect in April to give staff time to make adjustments and to "address capacity requirements" in offices, he wrote.

The CEO said in-office attendance was associated with "stronger employee engagement, improved client survey scores and better financial performance."

"I believe that we do our best work when we are together in person," he wrote. "It's easier to learn from each other, it's a better way to mentor colleagues starting out in the industry, and it helps us win pitches as a truly integrated team."

Under the new policy, WPP will allow staff one flexible working day a week and consider individual circumstances through a formal approval process, a person familiar with the matter told BI.

One WPP employee, speaking with BI on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on company policy, said they still had questions about the return-to-office plan's practicalities. They said that in some offices, there were already issues with securing enough desk space or meeting rooms, for example.

AT&T this week began implementing a staggered five-day RTO mandate, and workers told BI that limited available desks and elevators at some offices complicated their return.

Amazon encountered office-capacity issues last year, which, as BI previously reported, delayed its full return-to-office plan for some employees.

Another WPP insider said they felt the move would be positive for younger staff and help them network and learn from colleagues, while allowing flexibility for those who required it.

WPP's announcement follows that of its fellow advertising giant Publicis Groupe, which last year told employees to return to the office at least three days a week. The company later fired hundreds of employees for noncompliance with the mandate, Ad Age reported in October.

Bruce Daisley, a workplace-culture consultant and former Twitter vice president, said WPP's return-to-office policy would be an employee-morale gamble because advertising jobs already aren't as lucrative and aspirational as they once were.

"Working in an advertising agency used to be gloriously paid, now those who work in the field squint into spreadsheets all day earning salaries that are often substantially lower than the clients and media owners they deal with," Daisley wrote in his Make Work Better newsletter.

Read the full memo CEO Mark Read sent to WPP employees:

To everyone at WPP

I hope you had a restful holiday season and the chance to recharge over the break.

As I wrote to you in December, 2025 is going to be a year of opportunity for WPP — a year when we can win through a relentless focus on our clients.

With that in mind, I wanted to share our priorities for the next 12 months, as well as a change we are going to make in the way we work.

Clients, creativity and our work

WPP's mission is to deliver creative transformation for the world's leading brands. This means not only producing exceptional work in every discipline of modern marketing, but helping clients transform how they operate for a very different world. This is ever more true of our largest and most important clients, who come to us for the quality of what we do, the breadth of our skills, and our ability to prepare them for the future.

While industry mergers and jostling for status may distract our competitors, focus will be paramount for us in 2025. We have the opportunity to stand out by being more obsessed than ever with serving our clients. In every single decision we make, we should ask ourselves "how will this help us do even better work for our clients?" Those companies who embrace this philosophy will be those who emerge on top.

Technology, data and AI

Demand from clients for creative ideas, effective media plans, brilliant PR campaigns and outstanding design remains constant, but the way in which we deliver our work is changing faster than I have ever seen. That's why technology, data and AI are at the heart of our plans for the future, and why adoption of our AI-driven marketing operating system WPP Open has grown so quickly. Keeping up that momentum is another key objective for 2025.

WPP Open helped us win a number of 2024's biggest reviews and we are going to increase our investment in Open this year to build on the success it has brought us. It will be central to how we bring an integrated, AI-enabled offer to market, with the goal of producing better results for clients and winning more than our fair share of pitches in the year ahead.

A culture of winning, together

Finally, we are going to focus on the culture of our company. For all our technological sophistication, we remain a people business. Across everything we do, our success still relies on the fundamentals of human connection, creativity and relationships. Teams of talented individuals, working towards common goals, are what drives growth for our clients and our agencies.

I believe that we do our best work when we are together in person. It's easier to learn from each other, it's a better way to mentor colleagues starting out in the industry, and it helps us win pitches as a truly integrated team. The data from across WPP agencies shows that higher levels of office attendance are associated with stronger employee engagement, improved client survey scores and better financial performance. More of our clients are moving in this direction and expecting it of the teams who work with them.

For all these reasons, spending more time together is important to all of us, and we are making a change to help that happen. From the beginning of April this year, the expectation across WPP will be that most of us spend an average of four days a week in the office.

This doesn't mean we're going back to old ways of doing things. During the pandemic we all learned the value of greater flexibility in our working lives and of being trusted to balance work and personal commitments. We need to keep that spirit of flexibility and trust, and will approach this transition with pragmatism and an understanding of people's different circumstances. There will be a clear process to request additional flexibility — including for those with caring responsibilities, health issues and other considerations. Some roles that have always been fully or largely remote will continue as they are.

We know that for some colleagues this new policy will require adjustments to their routines and arrangements, which is why it will not come into effect until April — giving people time to make any changes they need to. There is also work to do between now and April to ensure we make the best use of our workspaces. Our WPP campuses offer superb working environments in beautifully designed buildings with leading environmental credentials. But it will take detailed planning in the coming months to address capacity requirements and other related areas, and I'd like to thank the teams who are already hard at work figuring that out.

Your leaders are working closely with the WPP People and Real Estate teams, and will follow up with next steps for your part of the business. It's important that we take a consistent approach across our agencies, who will communicate the requirements to you in detail. In the meantime, visit insideWPP for FAQs, details of the policy, and an AI-powered chat agent to help answer your questions.

A collaborative, winning culture is what makes WPP and our agencies a great place to work, and it's the key to our future growth and success. I firmly believe this change we are making will protect and enhance that culture, for the benefit of everyone.

As always, if you want to get in touch, email me.

Mark

• The Society for Human Resource Management, known as SHRM, is the world's largest HR association.
• These are the themes that SHRM anticipates will most impact businesses and HR professionals in 2025.
• Job retention, the skills gap, and how to manage polarizing workplaces are top of the agenda.

2025 holds plenty of challenges for employers and HR professionals. Labor shortages are making hiring a nightmare; they're anticipating new regulations and tariffs under the Trump administration, and they have to skill up workforces for AI if they don't want to get left behind.

The Society for Human Resource Management is there to help them.

SHRM is a member-driven organization that researches the biggest issues and innovations impacting today's workplaces and helps give business leaders and HR professionals the tools they need to build a "more civil and productive workplace."

The US-based group has nearly 340,000 members in 180 countries.

SHRM released an outlook of the areas it will be focusing on to best help HR professionals in 2025. These are some of the themes they say will shape the future of work next year.

The ongoing labor shortage

The job market is strong, but the reality for job seekers and employers alike is more complex.

On the employer side, job openings are outpacing active job seekers. That has left businesses struggling to fill openings. Many employers are also "labor hoarding" in an attempt to manage quit rates and prevent labor shortages many experienced after the pandemic.

1.7 million Americans are missing from the workforce compared to February 2020, according to the US Chamber of Commerce.

Supporting businesses as they navigate talent acquisition and retention is a key focus for 2025, SHRM said in its yearly overview.

One of the organization's suggestions for employers was to look at untapped talent pools, such as veterans, workers with disabilities, military spouses, and caregivers. Addressing barriers like outdated policies and insufficient flexibility could help maximize workplace recruitment and retention, SHRM said.

Political changes

The new administration could bring about new regulatory shifts, creating a wave of uncertainty for employers.

SHRM anticipates that businesses will need assistance adapting to new rules and policies and understanding their workforce impact.

2025 could also see a rise in polarized workplaces in connection to "conservative trends in federal courts and agencies," SHRM said in its outlook. Changes could impact workplace diversity initiatives, and the ripple effects of proposed tariffs could hit talent management and compensation strategies.

The organization also highlighted that its civility research unit found nearly 223 million "acts of incivility" per day following the 2024 election.

Common examples of incivility in the workplace include "intentionally interrupting or speaking over others, people being rude or inconsiderate, and gossiping or spreading rumors," according to SHRM.

The group said it would be focusing on equipping chief human resources officers (CHROs) with the tools and knowledge they need to foster resilient and inclusive workplaces.

The skills gap

AI holds huge potential for organizations, but to truly capitalize on the technology, investments must also extend to the workforce.

Currently, workers lack key skills like digital literacy and technical competence to collaborate with AI, creating a need for targeted upskilling and reskilling programs, SHRM said.

The impact of AI on the workforce will be more dramatic than previous technology shifts, SHRM President Johnny C. Taylor Jr. told Business Insider in August.

"We are not being as transparent as we should be with human beings workers about how significantly AI is going to change how we work and what work we do," said Taylor.

SHRM's outlook said that one in eight jobs has already been displaced by AI, and it added that addressing worker concerns about job security will also be a focus this year.

• Nearly 160 accounting execs and partners were asked about why firms were making more auditing errors.
• The auditors were split on whether a better work-life balance could reduce the number of errors.
• But they have to consider whether remote work could help attract Gen Zers amid an accountant shortage.

US accounting firms are split on how to deal with the shift to remote work, a report published by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, a government-backed audit-oversight board, has found.

The report, published last month, was part of the PCAOB's investigation into why auditing errors had surged following the pandemic and whether internal culture contributed. Though deficiency rates slowed in 2023, they've consistently risen since 2020. Accounting errors can lead to embarrassing and costly legal challenges and damage business integrity.

The report was based on inspections of quality-control systems and anonymous interviews with 156 executives and partners at six major firms: Deloitte, EY, KPMG, PwC, BDO, and Grant Thornton.

Sixty-four percent of respondents said that improving work-life balance for firm personnel improved audit quality.

However, roughly one-third of senior executives and partners from the six major firms surveyed said that contemporary remote- and hybrid-work culture had negatively affected auditing firms' quality control.

They said a loss of in-person interactions was making assimilation into the firm's culture more difficult, with newer recruits less attuned to the cultural importance of audit control.

Development opportunities were another concern, with some respondents saying firms were losing the "apprenticeship culture" they've traditionally favored.

"The delayed development of firm personnel affected productivity and made it difficult for some to meet deadlines and expectations," some respondents said.

At one of the audit firms, managers and partners were stepping down a level to do audit work traditionally performed by more junior personnel. This led to reduced scrutiny of the audit work, respondents said.

The Gen Z problem

Tied up with the questions about work-life balance and audit quality is another big issue facing accounting firms: how to attract Gen Z talent.

Respondents from all six firms said that "resource challenges" in terms of hiring were a factor in the increasing audit deficiencies or an overall concern for their companies.

In recent years, auditing firms have struggled to attract younger workers, who expect a better work-life balance.

"The younger generation have differing views on careers than their older counterparts, with many viewing their work more as a job, rather than a career, and are therefore more likely to leave the profession if presented with more attractive opportunities," the PCAOB said.

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants says about 65,000 students in the US completed bachelor's or master's degrees in accounting in the 2021-22 school year, 18% fewer than a decade earlier. Of those who study accounting, only a portion become certified public accountants. About 30,000 people took the CPA exam in 2022, compared with nearly 50,000 people in 2010.

The fear of personnel leaving was one reason that return-to-office policies weren't being pushed at firms, some respondents said.

• EY, Deloitte, PwC, and KPMG make up the world's largest accounting and consulting firms — the Big Four.
• The sector is tackling a slowdown in demand, new regulatory pressures, and the need to adapt to AI.
• These are the four leaders who have made it to the top of the firms.

EY, Deloitte, PwC, and KPMG make up the world's largest accounting and consulting firms, known as the Big Four.

They're billion-dollar companies with a collective 1.5 million staff and influence over hundreds of industries.

In recent years, the Big Four have faced a series of challenges, including a downturn in demand after the height of the pandemic, shifting regulatory requirements, and the need to adapt their skills and services for the emerging AI future.

Two of the firms appointed new leaders in 2024. The process varies by firm but generally includes hustings, in which contenders present their vision to voters, a partner vote, and global board ratification.

These are the four people who now sit at the helm of the world's biggest professional-services firms.

PwC — Mohamed Kande

In July, Mohamed Kande was elected as PwC's global chair for a four-year term, becoming the first Black leader of a Big Four firm.

Kande is also the first PwC head to come from the advisory division, as opposed to the audit wing.

Kande was born and raised in the West African country of Ivory Coast. When he was 16, he moved to France alone to study. He worked at a PwC subsidiary called PRTM Management Consultants before joining the firm in 2011. He became a global advisory leader in 2019.

Kande took over leading PwC's 370,000 employees at a time when it appeared to be tightening purse strings amid the consulting slowdown. Partner payouts dropped and more PwC partners took early retirement at the end of the year. In October, The Wall Street Journal reported that the firm would make its first major layoffs since 2009 and cut 1,800 jobs.

PwC is also working to rebuild trust in the Asia-Pacific region following scandals in Australia and China.

"The need for reinvention has never been more urgent," Kande said in the firm's 2024 annual review.

In 2021, he wrote a 1,000-word essay on LinkedIn about the impact his race had on his career in professional services.

"Often, I had to work hard to be included because I was different. I have felt slight but sharp jabs about my accent and my name, accompanied by quieter, larger unspokens about my skin color," Kande wrote.

"I try to give the opportunities that others gave me," he added. "I try to bring them into the room, knowing that their diversity, their unique perspective is a strength and something to be valued."

Deloitte — Joe Ucuzoglu

Joe Ucuzoglu has been Deloitte's global CEO since January 2023.

Ucuzolgu, who grew up in Los Angeles, was CEO of Deloitte US from 2019 to 2022 before ascending to the top job. He was a college intern in 1997. He rose to become a senior advisor at the SEC before rejoining Deloitte in 2015.

Deloitte is the largest of the Big Four by both revenues and number of employees, with 460,000 staff.

In March 2024, Deloitte announced a major restructuring aimed at cutting costs and repositioning it for future success. It said it was "modernizing and simplifying" its core offering into four categories: audit and assurance, tax and legal strategy, risk and transactions, and technology and transformation.

Ucuzoglu told the firm's partners in an email that the reorganization would reduce the firm's "complexity" and "free up" more partners for client work instead of managing staff.

Under Ucuzoglu, Deloitte has taken steps to drive investment in green hydrogen, releasing a report in 2023 estimating that the energy source could become a $1.4 trillion global market by 2050 and arguing that it "is moving into prime position as a solution for hard-to-abate sectors."

The CEO continues to engage with clients. He's also a frequent speaker at the World Economic Forum, a member of the Business Roundtable, and regularly gives interviews on issues affecting the business community.

EY — Janet Truncale

Janet Truncale was elected as EY's global chair and CEO in July, making her the first woman to lead a Big Four accounting firm. She joined EY as an intern in 1991.

Prior to her election, Truncale had spent almost four years as the vice chair and regional managing partner of the Americas Financial Services Organization.

The New Jersey native now heads EY's global workforce of more than 400,000 staff.

In her first public statement as global CEO, she launched a new strategy called "All in."

"All in is not just a business strategy, it captures an attitude and way of working," Truncale said. Her focus on unity has come after EY was rocked by a failed plan to break up its consultancy and audit divisions into two units, known as Project Everest.

Truncale was named as one of the "25 Most Influential Women" of 2023 by the Financial Times, which described her as "a trust builder" and "an advocate of being down to earth."

Outside EY, she serves as board chair for Women's World Banking and is on the board of UNICEF USA and the US-China Business Council.

Truncale has a BSE from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Columbia University.

KPMG — Bill Thomas

Bill Thomas became KPMG's global chairman and CEO in October 2017. Three years later, he was unanimously reelected to a second term.

Thomas has more than a decade in executive-level leadership and was previously the chairman of KPMG's Americas region from 2014 to 2017.

The Canadian leads KPMG's 275,000 employees. The firm is the smallest of the Big Four.

Over the past seven years, Thomas has focused on overseeing the development and implementation of KPMG's global strategy. Under Thomas, KPMG has launched a $5 billion digital-strategy investment plan.

"Over the coming years, my focus will be on continuing to enable and empower these talented teams to achieve their full potential," he said in a statement released on his reelection in 2020.

KPMG's global annual revenues have grown by 45% since the year Thomas was appointed CEO. In its latest annual earnings, it reported annual revenue of $38.4 billion.

Thomas stays largely out of the media spotlight, giving few interviews. Before entering the business world, he studied science, which he says is "extremely relevant today as technology infuses every part of our business and the businesses of clients."

Do you work at the Big Four and have a tip or story to share? Contact this reporter in confidence at [email protected] or on Signal.

• Turo is an app that allows people to rent out their cars to other drivers.
• The app was used to rent the vehicles used in two deadly incidents on New Year's Day.
• Since it was founded in 2009, it has grown into the largest car-sharing app of its kind.

Turo is the car-sharing app used to rent the vehicles involved in deadly New Year's Day incidents in Las Vegas and New Orleans.

It's like an Airbnb for cars, allowing people to get paid for leasing their vehicles to other drivers.

Users get easy access to short-term rentals, while owners can rent out their vehicles as a side hustle or even a full-time business.

Compared with conventional car rental companies, Turo can sometimes offer lower prices or more convenient locations. It makes a commission on rentals and doesn't have to run a fleet of cars.

Turo lists a very wide variety of vehicles, with some 1,600 makes and models on offer, including the CEO's own Porsche 911 Carrera S. The platform also lists campervans and more exotic vehicles such as the Cybertruck to rent.

Andre Haddad, CEO of Turo, told CNBC on Friday that the company is working with law enforcement and that neither of the men who rented vehicles raised red flags when using the platform.

He said they were "decorated servicemen" and that they could have rented vehicles from a traditional car rental chain or checked into any hotel.

"There were no red flags. No one would have flagged them as a security risk. So it's a very challenging situation to deal with," he said.

Haddad said that the company uses an algorithm to screen for potential "trust and safety issues" with renters. He also said the company hasn't seen any short-term changes from owners listing their vehicles on the platform.

The biggest car-sharing app in the US

Turo was called RelayRides when it was founded in 2009 by Shelby Clark, an entrepreneur and investor. The company changed its name to Turo in 2015 as it began to focus on longer-term rentals over quick trips. That year, it was included on Forbes' list of "hottest on-demand startups," with a valuation of $311 million.

It's now the largest car-sharing app in the US, ahead of competitors such as Getaround and Car Shair. Turo had 360,000 cars listed on its platform at the end of 2023, and about 3.7 million bookings were made that year, according to a March 2024 filing. It is available in Canada, France, the UK and Australia as well as the US.

Turo says it aims to put the world's 1.5 billion vehicles to better use and aspires to "fundamentally change car ownership," per its website.

"The goal for us is to continue to grow the business as fast as possible for the next many many years," Haddad told CNBC in September.

Haddad is a former eBay executive who was born in Lebanon. His company bio states that he helped grow eBay revenue from $750 million to $11.7 billion before joining Turo as CEO in 2011.

Turo reported nearly $880 million in revenue in 2023, up 18% year-on-year. It posted $14.7 million in profits, down from $154.7 million in 2022. Losses and high costs are common for fast-growing tech companies, especially those that are not yet public.

Turo has close to 1,000 employees and was valued at $1.5 billion in 2020, per PitchBook. The company registered for an IPO in 2021 but has not yet gone public.

In September, Turo announced a partnership with Uber that will give users access to Turo rentals on the Uber app.

"By joining forces with Uber, Turo is well positioned to penetrate a massive $150B-plus total addressable market," Andro Vrdoljak, Turo's business and corporate development VP, said in a press release.

How Turo vets users

To book a car on Turo, users need to set up an account with their email, phone number, credit card, and driver's license.

In most cases, approval is instant but can take up to 48 hours if additional information, such as an insurance score or criminal background check is needed, according to the company's website.

"Every Turo renter is screened through a proprietary multi-layer, data-science-based trust and safety process. We utilize over 50 internal and external data sources to build, maintain, and improve on our best-in-class Turo Risk Score," a Turo spokesperson told Business Insider on Thursday.

The men involved in both incidents had valid driver's licenses and clean background checks, they added.

After 12 years of operation and 27 million trips booked, fewer than 0.1% of Turo rentals ended with a serious incident, such as vehicle theft, the spokesperson said.

The company was working with law enforcement to support investigations into both incidents.

Employees from Turo's trust and safety team have interrupted vacations and returned to work to help monitor and respond to the aftermath of the incidents, Bloomberg reported.

In the March 2024 filing, Turo said that it has no control over or ability to predict the actions of car renters, who it calls guests.

"We cannot conclusively verify the identity of all guests, nor do we verify or screen third parties who may be present during a trip using a vehicle booked through our platform," Turo stated. "Our trust and safety processes focus primarily on guests to reduce the risk of vehicle theft and motor vehicle accidents."

Cybertrucks

Most major car rental companies don't offer Cybertrucks, so drivers who want to try one out but aren't willing to shell out nearly $100,000 to buy one have turned to platforms like Turo.

Last January, about a month after Tesla's launch event for the Cybertruck, some owners were already listing their vehicles on Turo for about $1,000 per day.

Some Turo hosts bought Cybertrucks specifically to rent them out to those curious about the model, InsideEVs reported in August.

Rental rates appear to have come down since then. On Thursday, for instance, Business Insider saw the option on Turo's website to book a Cybertruck for $174 a day in the Washington, DC, area.

In November, Tesla started offering leases for Cybertrucks. A three-year lease runs $1,249 a month.

Tesla first unveiled the Cybertruck in 2019, though production didn't start until 2023. The model has attracted attention from renters and buyers for its distinct shape, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has billed the Cybertruck as tough enough to survive an apocalypse.

In the past year, Tesla has issued six recalls for the model, the latest of which warned that the Cybertruck could lose drive power.

What's your experience hosting or renting with Turo? Contact these reporters at [email protected] and a[email protected]

• In 2024, companies were seizing the AI opportunity and calling workers back to the office.
• Few big businesses embodied those trends more than PC maker and cloud storage provider Dell.
• BI spoke to the company and analysts about some of Dell's biggest developments over the year.

Dell made its name in the 1990s as the trusty brand for office PCs.

It has since evolved into a major server vendor and data storage provider, but outside tech circles, the company has mostly retained its original reputation.

In the last year, Dell's 40th as a business, it's become clear that another transformation is underway at the Texas-based company, one that positions it as a key player in the AI game.

The company has also embodied another major business trend of the year — the RTO movement.

Business Insider spoke to the company and tech analysts about some of Dell's biggest developments over the year.

Dell's AI transformation

Adopting AI has been at the forefront of most business strategies this year, Dell included.

The company rolled out AI across its internal operating model in the summer. It has also made it its mission to help all enterprises do the same.

"Our purpose really is to accelerate the adoption of AI by our customer," Vivek Mohindra, Dell's senior vice president of corporate strategy, told BI.

Bob O'Donnell, president and chief analyst at Technalysis Research, said Dell has been "aggressive" in bringing all the infrastructure and services needed for AI adoption to market.

Dell's product suite, which it refers to as the Dell AI Factory, now includes AI PCs, GPU-enabled servers, storage offerings, networking solutions, and advisory services.

Mohindra said Dell's lineup of PowerEdge servers has doubled this year from five to 10; six are air-cooled, and four are direct liquid-cooled.

They are exactly the kind of energy-efficient, high-density systems that companies require to run their own models on-premises. If Dell's servers can power heavy AI workloads, then its data and cloud-based offering can help streamline and scale data workflows.

The nuanced offering has helped Dell capture the market of very large customers or "tier-2 CSPs."

Think the likes of Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Pfizer, or Vultr, explained Patrick Moorhead, CEO and chief analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy.

Moorhead, who has been following Dell for 14 years, said the company had done even better than he expected this year. It is taking advantage of the surge in companies wanting to run their own models and store data on-premises. It has succeeded in optimizing its offering by adding deployment services on top of great engineering, he added.

"It's a clever strategy and it's something that I didn't necessarily expect to see so much success so quickly," said Moorhead. "They're pulling it all together and making it a reality for enterprises."

Dell is also partnering with Silicon Valley's biggest names. It already works closely with Nvidia, Qualcomm, and Intel. In June, it announced that it was providing hardware to power the supercomputer being built by Elon Musk's company, xAI.

In November, Dell and Meta joined forces to provide on-premises AI infrastructure using Llama 2 AI models and Dell hardware.

These partnerships show how much Dell is extending its reach and make a statement that there is opportunity at the company, said O'Donnell.

"The fact that they're able to meet the requirements and demands of somebody like a Meta is a great sign."

The success of this AI strategy was evident in Dell's most recent quarterly earnings.

Revenue from the Infrastructure Solutions Group (ISG) — which includes AI servers, storage, and other network capabilities — jumped to a record $11.4 billion for the third quarter, a 34% increase on the previous year.

Specifically, servers and networking revenue was up 58% year over year. The company's shares have now soared from below $34 in September 2022 to around $117 in late December 2024, giving it a market capitalization of around $82 billion.

Nobody out there is indestructible, said Moorhead, but Dell's broad offering, strong supply chain, and scalability have set it up for continued success.

"They're one of the few companies in the world that sells all of those pieces. So I think they've positioned themselves pretty well," he said.

Mohindra is just as positive: "As I tell my teams, buckle up because next year, the change is going to be even more accelerated than this year."

RTO

As it rolled out products for the AI future, Dell was also making some big internal changes.

In August, the company implemented a major restructuring of business operations, including a round of layoffs. Dell also pushed a steady RTO policy throughout the year, which was connected to AI.

"As we enter a new AI world, in-person human interaction will be more important than ever," an internal memo sent by executives in September stated.

The policy blocked some workers from promotions and saw workers tracked for their attendance. For more than a decade, Dell had allowed some staff to work remotely leaving many of its employees frustrated by the changes.

BI obtained data on the workforce that showed close to 50% of Dell's full-time workers in the US opted to stay remote.

In September, another RTO policy called sales staff back to the office full time. "It became clear to us that there are huge benefits for sales to be together in terms of learning from each other, training, and mentorship," Mohindra told BI.

Several employees told BI that they had heard unofficially from managers that the five-day order would be extended to other departments in 2025. When asked if that was true, Mohindra said Dell is "a continuously learning organization."

Dell was more vocal than most of its competitors about RTO, said O'Donnell and Moorhead, but both analysts did not believe it would have a major impact on the company.

"It doesn't seem like their policies are radically different than what a fair number of tech companies are starting to do," said O'Donnell. "It's not like I think Dell's going to lose a whole bunch of people to HP or Lenovo."

"I think it will be a good thing for growth," said Moorhead, "especially product development."

• 28-year-old Aamanh Sehdev was named a McKinsey partner this December.
• After joining as a summer intern, he's climbed the ranks in just seven years.
• Sehdev spoke to BI about how he heard the news and what helped him progress at McKinsey.

Aamanh Sehdev had spent a week in early December trying to distract himself by seeing friends and playing padel.

He'd been an associate partner for two of his seven-year career at McKinsey and knew there was a chance he'd be promoted to partner.

But there was a low number of elections this year, so he thought it was fifty-fifty.

The news usually arrives at the end of the week. But at around 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sehdev received a call at home. It was from Tunde Olanrewaju, managing partner of McKinsey's UK, Ireland, and Israel offices.

"The nerves were kicking in, but he got straight to the point," Sehdev told Business Insider.

"Hey, it's great news. Welcome to the partnership. We're really excited to have you on board," Sehdev recalled Olanrewaju telling him. "I said thanks, but in a slightly higher pitch voice than I typically have."

Sehdev is one of around 200 McKinsey employees promoted to partner this December. Amid a slowdown in demand for consulting services, this year's cohort is one of the firm's smallest in recent years.

The promotion elevates him to one of the most senior positions you can reach in a major consulting firm. Partnerships are participatory, giving individuals a say in the direction of the firm. Those promoted to equity partners receive a share of the annual profits.

On McKinsey's website, partners are described as "not only meeting McKinsey's high bar for exceptional leadership, but they are also dedicated to finding solutions to some of the world's most pressing challenges."

At 28, Sehdev is one of the youngest in the cohort. He spoke to BI about what it was like to receive the news and what it takes to make partner.

'Enjoy the moment'

Although his call with Olanrewaju lasted only a few minutes, Sehdev spent the next hour and a half on the phone with sponsors and mentors.

"Obviously, there was a lot of excitement, a lot of congratulations, and a bit of a common thread of 'let it sink in, don't rush into the next thing, enjoy the moment,'" he said.

He also called his mother and brother that evening. His parents didn't go to university, so it was a major milestone for the family. "They were super proud and excited," he said. "They've obviously been pretty key in shaping my journey."

But the following morning, it was into the office to carry on as usual and keep the news a secret from his colleagues until McKinsey's formal announcement a week and a half later.

Sehdev said he was still digesting the achievement. In the new year, he's taking a 17-day trip to Australia to "carve out a little bit of time to think about it a bit more formulaically."

His first focus is to switch off and get some sun, he added.

Becoming a partner is notoriously difficult and competitive. It's the ultimate goal for many consultants starting their careers.

Not for Sehdev.

When he began studying mechanical engineering at London's Imperial College, Sehdev had never heard of McKinsey.

"It was something that people around me were talking about alongside banking," he told BI. "I turned up to a career fair, it was interesting, and I applied for the internship."

For the first half of his career, Sehdev said he was doing "a bit of a random walk" through a whole host of sectors and different functions. It helped him find the right home at the firm — he now works on a combination of private capital and McKinsey's telecommunications (TMT) practice.

Sehdev acknowledged that seven years was a fast ascent up the ranks, but said that meritocracy was one of McKinsey's benefits.

"What McKinsey has a tendency to do is when you get comfortable, they take you to the next role or level, and then you get uncomfortable again. That snowballed for me over the last seven years."

Sehdev said three reasons he was selected as a partner came through in his evaluation.

First, he always has a focused strategy for what he's doing and what he wants to do next at the firm. Second, he showed entrepreneurship and originality, particularly when it came to creating novel ways to work with the smaller software businesses he concentrates on. Lastly, he invested time with the teams and created a positive, energizing atmosphere.

There's an element of luck involved in it as well, he added, saying he was fortunate to have met managers early on who would stay late in the evenings to teach him.

No matter how good you are, working at a top consultancy can be intense. Sehdev said he carves out time to exercise, spend time with family, and protect his weekends. He doesn't expect that to change now he's a partner.

"My mindset has always been, look, I'll set a really high bar, but I'll not let the micro-events or little things take away too much energy. That's made me better at my job."

• Deloitte UK has had a year of reorganization and cost-cutting amid a consulting slowdown.
• It is planning to cut staff travel and expenses by 50% for the rest of the financial year, the FT reported.
• The cuts to spending were short-term, a senior exec said in internal messaging.

The Big Four consulting firm Deloitte wants to cut its spending on staff travel and expenses by more than 50% in the UK, where it is headquartered.

In an email sent to partners and directors in October, Deloitte said the "firmwide cost management measures" were being introduced because of "challenging market conditions" in the UK, the Financial Times reported.

Deloitte reportedly said it was only aiming to maintain the cost cuts until the end of its current financial year in May and described the reduction in spending as "limited" and "temporary."

The email was sent by Sarah Humphreys, chief operating officer of the tax and legal division. Humphreys said Deloitte was also reviewing its "recruitment agency costs, licence fees, bad debts and global recharges," the FT reported.

The cost-saving efforts come after a year of reorganization and redundancies at Deloitte, as the firm grapples with an industry-wide slowdown in demand for consulting services that has hit revenue growth.

Deloitte's global consulting revenues grew by 1.9% in the 2024 financial year ending 31 May. The previous year, they grew by 19.1%.

"Like many organisations, we are looking carefully at our costs to ensure we're able to meet clients' needs while continuing to make investments in our firm and our people," Deloitte said in a statement shared with Business Insider Monday.

The downturn comes after many consultancies hired aggressively during the pandemic.

In March, Deloitte carried out a global overhaul of its operations aimed at cutting costs and repositioning it for future success. It simplified its core offering from five to four categories: audit and assurance, tax and legal strategy, risk and transactions, and technology and transformation.

It has also held several rounds of layoffs in the UK, where it has around 25,000 employees. In internal messages seen by Business Insider, Deloitte said layoffs of around 180 staff in September were "necessary to enable us to navigate the remainder of a challenging FY25."

The firm has also cut UK partner's pay to save on costs, leaving the most senior class of employees with roughly £50,000 ($63,000) less than the previous year — a 4.5% decline. UK partners still took home an average of around £1 million ($1.2 million) for the fourth year running.

Do you work at Deloitte? Contact this reporter in confidence to share your thoughts on the industry at [email protected]

• Nissan and Honda have announced they are beginning merger talks.
• A third Japanese automaker, Mitsubishi, will also participate in the discussions.
• The companies hope a merger could help them take on Tesla and Chinese EV makers, Nikkei previously reported.

Nissan and Honda, two of Japan's largest car companies, have announced that they are beginning merger talks.

The two automakers have agreed to proceed with discussions to build a "strategic partnership focused on intelligence and electrification," according to a statement issued on Monday.

Nissan and Honda are looking to reach a conclusion in talks by the end of January 2025.

A memorandum of understanding (MOU) has also been signed with a third company, Mitsubishi, signaling its involvement in the merger talks.

It would be the largest domestic merger in Japanese automotive history, and if finalized, it would create the world's third-largest automaker by sales.

The companies hope that a merger could help them better compete against Tesla and Chinese EV makers.

Profits were down in the latest earnings reports for all three of Japan's top auto companies — Toyota, Nissan, and Honda — with slumping sales in China a constant theme.

"At this time of change in the automobile industry, which is said to occur once every 100 years, we hope that Mitsubishi Motors' participation in the business integration discussions of Nissan and Honda will lead to further social change," said Toshihiro Mibe, Honda's Director and Representative Executive Officer.

Japan's stock market had closed for trading on Monday when the announcement was made. However, Honda's New York-listed stock was up 13% in premarket trade Monday on the back of the news.

After news of the merger was reported last week, Nissan's stock had surged by nearly 24%.

• Donald Trump has said the EU will face tariffs unless they make up their trade deficit with the US.
• He has told the bloc to make a "large scale purchase" of US oil and gas to balance trade relations.
• In 2022, the US purchased $131.3 billion more of goods and services from the EU than vice-versa.

US President-elect Donald Trump said he has told the European Union it must purchase a large quantity of US oil and gas, or he will impose tariffs on the trading bloc.

"I told the European Union that they must make up their tremendous deficit with the United States by the large scale purchase of our oil and gas. Otherwise, it is TARIFFS all the way!!!" Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on Friday.

The EU and US have long maintained deep economic ties, but in recent years, the balance of trade has tilted in Europe's favor. In 2022, the overall US goods and services trade deficit with the EU was $131.3 billion.

While the US imports more goods in the trade partnership than the EU, the reverse is true for services.

In 2023, the US exported €396.4 billion ($411.5 billion) of services to the EU, while importing €292.4 billion ($303.5 billion) — a US surplus of €104 billion ($107 billion), according to EU figures.

"The EU and US have deeply integrated economies, with overall balanced trade and investment," Olof Gill, a European Commission spokesperson, told Business Insider.

"We are ready to discuss with President-elect Trump how we can further strengthen an already strong relationship, including by discussing our common interests in the energy sector," he added.

"The message is clear: the European Union is committed to continue working with the United States, pragmatically, to strengthen transatlantic ties," European Council President António Costa told reporters following a meeting of the European Council on Thursday.

Trump made tariffs central to his reelection campaign, suggesting a blanket 10% tariff on goods from all countries. It is still uncertain which policies he will introduce once in office.

The US is one of the EU's largest trading partners, particularly for industries like automobiles, pharmaceuticals, and luxury goods.

Individual countries like Germany, whose stuttering auto market depends heavily on imports to the US, would be particularly hard hit by renewed tariffs.

The pressure of potential tariffs comes as the eurozone struggles with sluggish economic growth and the ongoing war in Ukraine. The bloc expanded by 0.2% in the most recent quarter, compared to 0.7% growth in the US.

On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Trump's proposed tariff plans pose more uncertainty to the US economy in the coming year.

"We don't know what will be tariffed, from what countries, for how long, in what size. We don't know whether there'll be retaliatory tariffs. We don't know what the transmission of any of that will be into consumer prices," Powell told reporters.

The European Commission did not reply immediately to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, is close to lifting its ban on Apple iPhone 16 sales.
• Its government had blocked sales of the new model for failing to comply with domestic regulations.
• Apple's $1 billion investment offer helped sway Indonesia's president, Bloomberg reported.

Apple is close to resolving its dispute over iPhone sales in Indonesia.

At a meeting on the weekend, Indonesia's president Prabowo Subianto told officials to accept Apple's $1 billion investment offer, Bloomberg reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. The offer was made in an effort to end the country's ban on iPhone 16 sales.

In October, Indonesia's Ministry of Industry blocked Apple from selling its latest iPhone model, which first launched in September, for failing to comply with domestic regulations.

The southeast Asian country requires that at least 40% of the material in smartphones and tablets sold in stores nationally come from Indonesian producers — a measure to protect local producers and attract foreign investment.

Apple offered to expand its investment plans in Indonesia's growing tech economy in an effort to ease the ban.

The offer included a proposal for one of Apple's suppliers to set up a plant producing AirTags on the island of Batam, with the aim that it will one day account for 20% of global production of AirTags, Bloomberg reported.

Apple had previously proposed a $10 million payment for a factory in Bandung, located southeast of Jakarta, the country's current capital. The factory would manufacture accessories and components.

The Indonesian market represents an insignificant portion of Apple's total sales globally, but has become one of the company's key alternatives in the region as it looks to move manufacturing out of China.

In April, CEO Tim Cook visited Indonesia and said that Apple was investigating the feasibility of establishing local manufacturing facilities there. The tech giant has already built four developer academies in Indonesia.

With over 280 million citizens, Indonesia is the world's fourth-most-populous nation and is a growing market for Apple.

Bloomberg reported that Subianto told his cabinet to seek more future investments.

Apple did not immediately reply to a request for comment made outside normal US working hours.

• Michael Dell is one of the world's wealthiest people, with a net worth of more than $100 billion.
• The Dell Technologies founder made his fortune by democratizing the PC and striking shrewd deals.
• Here's a look at his background, career, and how he spends his fortune.

Michael Dell, the tech entrepreneur who helped bring the personal computer to the masses, ranks among the world's wealthiest people with a net worth of $122 billion, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

From his early career as one of the youngest CEOs of a Fortune 500 company until now, Dell is used to getting his way. He was only 23 when his company had its IPO in 1988. Dell took the PC maker private in 2013 only to relist it five years later, and has now shifted the company's focus toward serving the artificial intelligence boom.

Dell lives the extravagant life of a successful business figure as well, complete with all of the private planes, summer homes, and sweet rides you'd expect from a billionaire.

Michael Dell was born on Feb. 23, 1965, in Houston, Texas.

Dell was fascinated with gadgets from a young age. When he was 15, he bought one of the first Apple computers and disassembled it to see if he could put it back together.

Source: Academy of Achievement

When Dell was in high school, he got a job selling newspaper subscriptions.

After figuring out how to target an untapped customer base, he made $18,000 in just one year.

Source: Academy of Achievement

Though he was really only interested in computers, Dell entered the University of Texas at Austin as a pre-med student in 1983.

He spent his spare time upgrading PCs and selling them from his dorm room, making $180,000 in his first month of business. Though Dell never came back for his sophomore year, he returned to his dorm for a photo opp in 1999.

Source: Entrepreneur

In 2018, Dell tweeted out the first financial statement from his dorm PC company.

Dell used the statement to convince his parents that he didn't have to go back to college.

He sold nearly $1 million worth of computers and, after paying salaries and expenses, made over $198,000 in gross profit.

He officially launched his company in 1984, under the name PC's Limited.

It soon became one of the fastest-growing companies in the country, raking in more than $6 million in sales in its first year of business.

Source: Entrepreneur

He changed the company's name to Dell Computer Corp. in 1987, and sales continued to soar.

It went public in 1988, raising $30 million. Dell made about $18 million from the deal, and by 1992, the 27-year-old CEO was the youngest person to lead a Fortune 500 company.

Source: Entrepreneur, Academy of Achievement

In 1988, he went on a blind date with Susan Lieberman, a fashion designer from Dallas.

The two had an instant connection. "Most men I dated talked about themselves a lot and tried to impress me," Susan told Texas Monthly. "He was the nicest guy I'd ever met."

They were married in October 1989 and have four children.

In 2001, Susan Dell designed the inaugural ball gowns for Jenna and Barbara Bush.

She operated a successful boutique in Austin and even had two labels of her own before opening a new fashion brand, Phi, in New York City, which she closed in 2009.

Source: Austin Business Journal, Texas Monthly, New York Magazine

His son, Zack Dell, started following in his dad's footsteps.

In 2014, at age 17, Zach cofounded his own dating startup Thread. Thread later became a photo-sharing app but is no longer around.

The family's 33,000-square-foot home outside Austin is called "the Castle" because of its hilltop perch and heavy security presence.

The house boasts eight bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, a tennis court, indoor and outdoor pools, and gorgeous views of Lake Austin.

Source: The Independent

 

Dell also owns a 6,380-square-foot contemporary ranch house in the nearby hills, where the family keeps Arabian horses.

Source: Mother Jones, The Nation

The Dell family has spent vacations at the "Raptor Residence," a seven-bedroom, 18,500-square-foot compound in Kukio, Hawaii.

Source: Business Insider and The Pinnacle List

Dell loved the resort area of Hualalai so much that in 2006, with the help of Walmart heir Rob Walton, he bought the hotel and resort through his investment company, MSD Capital

Dell started MSD Capital in 1998 to manage his family's wealth. The firm has made investments in a number of companies, including IHOP and Applebee's parent company, apparel company Phillips-Van Heusen, and offshore oil drilling company Independence Contract Drilling.

Source: Bloomberg, Pitchbook, SEC filings.

Through MSD Capital, Michael Dell also invested in real estate in Hawaii, Mexico, and California.

The company invests in luxury hotels, commercial and multifamily properties, and land development, and it participates in other real-estate-development funds.

Dell has his fair share of hot wheels as well.

His car collection at one point included a 2004 Porsche Boxster, a Porsche Carrera GT, and a Hummer H2.

Source: MSN 

He's also owned private jets including a Gulfstream V.

Private planes come in handy when Michael and Susan Dell travel for their nonprofit.

Since 1999, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation has given billions to nonprofits and social enterprises in the US, India, and South Africa.  

 

Dell is friends with other tech billionaires.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff is a particular buddy. The two of them did a public Fitbit walking challenge in 2014 and Benioff's team won. But Dell is so competitive (and also a fitness fanatic), that Benioff jokingly suspected that Dell put his Fitbit on his dog to help him score more steps.

Source: Fitbit, Business Insider

CEO to chairman and back again

In 2004, Dell left the helm of his PC company and became chairman. But in 2007, with Dell's share of the PC market declining, he shook up management, took the reins as CEO, and never let go again. As the PC market continued to decline, he expanded into new markets through new products and acquisitions.

In 2013, the Texan won a long battle to take Dell private, fighting off legendary activist investor Carl Icahn, who wanted to stop the deal, replace the board, and fire Dell.

 

Two years after winning that battle, Dell announced plans to buy EMC for $67 billion.

The financing of a deal this huge was complicated, and at first, skeptics thought it would fall apart, citing everything from tax complications to pushback from investors in VMware, a company EMC mostly owned.

Dell didn't lose.

Instead, he catapulted his company into a much bigger one with the purchase of EMC. He became the leader of what was then the largest private company in the tech industry.

After five years as a private company, Dell went public again in late 2018 through a complex arrangement that involved buying back shares in VMware, the software business in which it held an 80% stake.

He received a huge windfall in November 2023, when Broadcom closed its $69 billion takeover of VMware.

The PC tycoon owned nearly 40% of the cloud-computing business before it was sold to the microchip giant. As a result, he received well over $20 billion in Broadcom stock and cash in exchange for his stake, filings show.

Dell stock has surged by over 300% over the past two years, as investors bet it will be a key player in the AI revolution.

Dell shares have soared from below $34 in September 2022 to around $115, valuing the company at about $79 billion.

The stock surge likely reflects the company's pivot to providing a broad suite of AI solutions to corporations, selling everything from servers and data storage to AI PCs, networking, and services.

Dell trumpeted AI's potential in an interview published this September, saying it would "accelerate and advance scientific discovery" and "make humans happier, healthier, and more successful."

"I'm incredibly excited about it," he added. "As with any new thing, there are all sorts of uncertainties and questions, including how's it all going to happen. Nobody knows, and we love being in the middle of it."

Source: McKinsey

 

Dell's net worth has soared to more than $100 billion.

Dell's surging stock has supercharged its founder's net worth, raising it from about $45 billion two years ago to $122 billion.

Dell is now one of the dozen or so centibillionaires, and ranks 11th on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

• The Big Four — EY, Deloitte, KPMG, and PwC — are the world's largest accounting and consulting firms.
• They pull in billions annually but have faced a slowdown in demand for their services.
• This is how the Big Four have performed in recent years, and how they're looking to adapt in future.

Deloitte, EY, KPMG, and PwC are the world's largest accounting and consulting firms, known as the Big Four.

With histories dating back to the 19th century, they have grown into billion-dollar companies employing hundreds of thousands of staff who earn high salaries and often work very long hours.

The Big Four offer companies services such as workforce transformations, reshaping corporate finance portfolios, assurance, valuation, and optimizing the use of technology.

Put simply, they're there to assess businesses and tell them how to run more efficiently.

The pandemic changed the landscape for the major firms, with a surge in demand that sparked a hiring boom. The Big Four are now attempting to balance operations amid slowing demand.

Here's a look at where the Big Four stand.

EY

After a series of mergers, EY was formed in 1989 as the accountancy firm Ernst & Young. It has since diversified its offerings and, in 2013, rebranded to EY.

Headquartered in central London, EY has more than 700 offices in 150 countries. Janet Truncale, the global chair and CEO, took over from Carmine Di Sibio in July.

EY focuses heavily on consultancy and assurance but also covers tax and strategy, and transactions.

Revenue was up 3.9% on the previous year to $51.2 billion, according to the firm's latest annual report published in October. It was EY's poorest performance since 2010. Assurance services were its largest revenue generator.

In May 2024, the firm was caught up in a scandal along with PwC and fined $11.7 million by UK authorities for a series of auditing failures.

As pressure has mounted, EY cut UK partner payouts by 5% and laid off employees. Overall employee numbers dropped by 2,450 during EY's latest financial year — the first decrease in 14 years.

EY's global head count now stands at about 393,000.

In 2023, the firm launched EY.ai, an AI platform aiming to assist clients across all its professional services. It also offers clients a conversational AI assistant called EYQ.

Deloitte

Deloitte is the largest of the Big Four by both revenue and employees.

Founded in the UK in 1845, Deloitte expanded into the US in 1890. It is headquartered in London and has more than 700 offices in some 150 countries. It's known for strong business and technology consulting services.

Joe Ucuzoglu has been its global CEO since 2022.

In March, Deloitte announced a major restructuring aimed at cutting costs and repositioning it for future success.

It is "modernizing and simplifying" its core offering into four categories: audit and assurance, tax and legal strategy, risk and transactions, and technology and transformation.

Global revenue climbed 3.1% to $67.2 billion in the 2024 financial year, but, like EY, that performance was far lower than the 14.9% growth in 2023.

The slowdown has affected partner payouts, which fell by 4.5% to about $1.27 million. Equity partners took home roughly $63,000 less than they did a year ago.

Deloitte's global workforce expanded to 460,000 in 2024, an increase of 3,000.

Deloitte has pledged to invest $3 billion in AI by fiscal year 2030 and has partnered with technology industry leaders Nvidia, Google Cloud, and AWS to develop its client offering.

PwC

PwC is often considered the most prestigious of the Big Four, and topped the latest Vault Accounting 25 ranking.

Officially formed in 1998 from a merger between Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand, PwC's headquarters is almost opposite EY's main office in London.

Mohamed Kande has been the global chairman since July.

PwC has three core lines of business — assurance, advisory, and tax and legal services — but the firm is particularly known for its strong and well-established audit client base.

It employs more than 370,000 people in 149 countries and territories.

In 2021, PwC committed to creating over 100,000 net new jobs over a five-year period, and in October 2024, it said it had already hit three-quarters of that target.

PwC was the second-highest earning of the Big Four, posting record gross revenue of $55.4 billion and 3.7% annual growth in the year to June 30.

Though not as stark a slowdown as Deloitte or EY, growth at PwC still dropped noticeably compared to the 9.9% rise reported for the previous 12 months.

A number of high-profile scandals in the Asia-Pacific region involving its work with the Australian and Chinese governments damaged business.

To handle the changing environment, PwC cut partner pay by 5%, leaving partners taking home an average of $1.09 million this financial year.

In October The Wall Street Journal reported that the firm would make its first major layoffs since 2009 and cut 1,800 jobs.

PwC has invested $1.5 billion to expand and scale its AI capabilities. In February 2024, it unveiled a tax AI assistant for 2,300 PwC tax professionals in the UK to use.

KPMG

The smallest of the Big Four in terms of revenue and employees, KPMG is headquartered in Amsterdam and has a long-serving leader in chairman and chief executive Bill Thomas.

Its core services cover audit, tax and legal, and advisory.

The last of the Big Four to report its 2024 results, KPMG reported in December that in the 12 months to September 30, it saw revenues of $38.4 billion, a rise of just over 5% compared to 2023.

Overall, its revenues are the lowest among the Big Four, close to $20 billion less than its three competitors.

KPMG has faced scrutiny across several markets for its auditing and accounting work. In 2023, it was fined a record $26 million in the UK after "exceptional" failures in its accounting work.

Employee numbers grew by just over 1% in the 2024 financial year to reach 275,000. That's 185,000 people fewer than Deloitte.

Over 2024, KPMG has made a series of layoffs. About 330 staff, or 4%, were cut from its US audit practice; 5% cut across advisory, tax, and back-office functions; and 2% from its advisory workforce in 2023, according to Accountancy Age.

KPMG said it is looking to invest more in specialist roles in areas like ESG, tax, and technology.

While it lags behind in revenues, the firm is seen to foster a less cutthroat workplace than its competitors. The firm has said it aims to have women in a third of partner or director roles by 2025.

According to its latest report, women hold 29.9% of leadership roles.

What's your experience of working at the Big Four accountancy firms? Contact this reporter in confidence at [email protected]

• Peter Thiel has praised Elon Musk's attitude to risk and said it's a bad idea to bet against him.
• The world's richest person understands risk in a way that most people don't, Thiel said.
• "Peter is right on all counts," Musk tweeted in agreement with some of Thiel's comments.

Elon Musk's entry into politics has caused some trepidation in Washington circles.

But his former business partner and fellow billionaire, Peter Thiel, has a message for the DC establishment: "You should never bet against Elon."

Thiel discussed Musk's unique skill as an entrepreneur during an appearance on the latest episode of the talk show Piers Morgan Uncensored, which was released Thursday.

Thiel said that in the 2000s Silicon Valley just viewed Musk as someone building two "super crazy" companies — his car company, Tesla, and rocket company, SpaceX.

"If only one of them had succeeded, one might still have said that it was just extraordinarily lucky. The fact that, to first approximation, both have wildly succeeded, tells us that Elon knows something about risk that the rest of us don't."

It appears to be a "high-wire, crazy, risk-taking act" from the outside, but his methods somehow work, he added.

Thiel said he has asked Musk before about how he approaches risk.

"I think there is something he understands about it that we don't. It's hard to articulate. I don't know if he can articulate it."

The two billionaires formed PayPal in 2000 after merging their two companies. Thiel has since cofounded Palantir, founded the VC fund Founders Fund, and started the Thiel Fellowship. He is an outspoken libertarian and generous donator to the Republican Party.

Musk's business strategies have come under scrutiny since he was appointed to head the Trump administration's new Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

His goal is to significantly reduce the federal budget, cutting as much as $2 trillion in spending.

"The strong consensus view in the DC establishment is that this is going to go nowhere. That it's just absolutely impossible to fix things, and this is going to be a very frustrating dead end," said Thiel during the interview.

"The alternate view, I would say, is you should never bet against Elon," he said.

"Peter is right on all counts," Musk tweeted in response to the interview clip on DOGE.

Musk's businesses have seemed to thrive since the election as investors and analysts wager he will continue to play a leading role in the new administration in a phenomenon dubbed the "Trump bump."

This week, SpaceX, Musk's space transportation company, was valued at $350 billion, doubling its worth in a year. Tesla has also enjoyed a major rally, with shares surging more than 60% this year.