The British company EYwhich recently decided to abandon a plan to separate its consulting and auditing activities, announced on Monday the layoffs of about 3,000 employees in the US, mainly due to “economic conditions” and “overcapacity” in its sectors.

In percentage terms, this is about 5% of its employees in this country, the group explained in a message to AFP.

Other large consulting firms have recently made similar decisions, such as Accenturewhich announced at the end of March a plan to reduce its operating costs that foresees the elimination of about 19,000 jobs – 2.5% of the total – in the next 18 months.

According to press reports, KPMG also announced in February its intention to lay off about 700 of its US workers (2% of the total), while the McKinsey plans to eliminate 2,000 positions.

In EYits management said the job cuts “are part of the management of our current operations” and are not a result of the recently completed “strategic review”.

Ernst & Young, which formally announced in September its intention to separate its consulting services from those of chartered accountants so that it could secure contracts in each area without worrying about potential conflicts of interest, has finally seen that plan torpedoed by the executive committee of its US subsidiary.

According to the Financial Times, which first reported the layoffs at EY, the cuts will be made mainly in the consulting division.