If artificial intelligence advances mean the average employee can do twice the amount of work they do today, then EY CEO Janet Truncale could see the consulting giant grow without cutting her head count.
Speaking Monday at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles, Truncale said, “We’re not going to decrease the size of our workforce” because AI increases productivity, and employees perform at a higher level earlier in their careers.
Her 400,000-person firm works with the biggest companies in the world, but the data-heavy work required of auditors and accountants has led many to predict that firms like EY can do the same amount of work with fewer people, thanks to AI.
Truncale said she often gets asked if EY could do the same amount of work with half the workforce.
“I like to think we can double in size with the workforce we have today when we have those professionals operating at the top of their license and doing more interesting work,” she said.
Truncale believes AI “is going to transform the work our people are doing,” but not make humans obsolete or eliminate thousands of jobs.
“There’s always going to be a human component,” she said.
“You have to invest in all of the soft skills,” she added.
Naturally, the firm is talking with companies in various sectors about AI tools they can incorporate into their firms. EY is able to connect with these executive teams because the firm is “client zero” and tests many tools on its own workforce and “disrupting ourselves” before recommending them to clients, Truncale said.
There’s a healthy respect for these tools given teams across the firm are constantly tinkering with them — of both the tools’ abilities and faults. Data, Truncale said, and data security need to be top of mind for executives who want to harness AI.
“You’ve got to be really careful with this technology,” she said.
While generative AI has disrupted professional services, many in the industry have echoed Truncale and said they do not think it can replace humans entirely but instead serve as a supplement to their work.
EY and the other Big Four firms have invested heavily in AI for years and recently in agentic AI, which involves several AI “agents” operating independently and making decisions without the direct assistance or input of humans.
In March, EY launched its EY.ai Agentic Platform in March, providing 80,000 of its tax employees with 150 tax agents that can help them with data collection, document analysis and review, and income and indirect tax compliance.
Other firms and consultants have also said they view AI as a way to free up staff from monotonous tasks and give them additional time to spend on more advanced or complicated work. AI has been a boon to consulting firms’ business as clients look for guidance on how to incorporate the technology.
