Big 4 in India: A Moment of Reckoning or a Time to Pivot?

By Jamie Anderson & Priyanka?Chaturvedi Agrawal

The tragic death of Anna Sebastian Perayil, a young, chartered accountant at Ernst & Young India, has sparked a needed debate about labour practices especially at the Big Four audit, tax and consulting firms—Deloitte, PwC, KPMG, and EY.

While these firms have established themselves as leaders in accounting, auditing, tax and consulting worldwide, their operations in India reveal a troubling reality. These firms often take advantage of weak labour regulations to boost profitability, under the guise of “cost savings.” By relocating substantial volumes of work from developed economies to India, they leverage the country’s cheaper labour market and weak labour laws.

Yet, the lower operational costs are not merely the result of standard wage differentials but are deeply rooted in sub-par labour practices. This business model relies on a system that undervalues Indian professionals, turning a blind eye to the country’s inadequate labour protections.

A critical element of this issue lies in the lack of effective people management and accountability. In their quest for growth, the Big Four have been engaged in a "race to the bottom," commoditizing their services by constantly undercutting each other.

This practice, driven by an aggressive sales mentality from the top, and in-fighting for business, has exacerbated the problem. Promotions often focus on individual achievements, neglecting leaders' abilities to inspire, motivate, and support their teams. Harmful behaviours—such as a culture of overwork and under-reporting of actual hours spent on projects—are often overlooked or even rewarded.

In the words of Vikram Utamsingh, Partner at KPMG from 1998-2013: “I believe a fundamental challenge facing big 4 firms today is the inability to drive empathy and compassion throughout their organizations. Big 4 environments are tough, there is a lot of internal competition driven by a lot of very smart and ambitious employees and chasing financial goals is a significant?priority”.

Organizations must prioritize people management as a core competency, re-evaluating how they select, develop, and promote managers. Leaders must be held accountable for team well-being through performance reviews that assess not just outcomes but also their treatment of employees.

Post-project surveys and randomized dipstick surveys should be used to gather data on managerial behaviour, which can feed into reward and promotion decisions. Regular training in empathy, workload management, and people skills is essential, coupled with a zero-tolerance policy for repeat offenders. After all, what gets measured gets done, what gets rewarded gets repeated, and what is corrected is avoided.

Indian employees, already vulnerable due to weak labour laws, bear the brunt of cost-cutting strategies through overwork and underpayment. In particular, employees at junior and mid-tier levels face gruelling work schedules with long hours and constant pressure.

The audit practice is further stretched due to one single year-end (March) with listed companies pushing to publish audited financial results often just a few days after year-end.? With audit fees under constant pressure, coupled with low tech adoption both at clients and big 4s; and, unreasonable, bunching of client deadlines, the brunt of overwork and burnout is often left to entry/mid-level ‘resources’.

Internal mechanisms meant to prevent exploitation, such as timesheet and other reporting procedures, also work poorly. A major issue is the lack of confidentiality in the reporting process, which discourages employees from coming forward. The fear of retaliation, either in the form of job loss or being blacklisted from future opportunities, is very real. Establishing a robust, independent, and confidential reporting system could empower employees to speak out without fear, expose unethical practices, and drive culture change.

Similarly, workload monitoring remains insufficient, with efforts often failing to capture the extent of overwork. This gap calls for formal systems to monitor not only performance but also stress levels and work patterns. Technology can be a powerful ally here. “Real-time” dashboards tracking employee hours, task distribution, and overtime patterns can flag potential issues, triggering timely interventions from HR or leadership.

Mental health safeguards are another vital area for reform. Counselling services, “mental health days,” and similar programs must become institutionalized norms rather than perks. Without these measures, employees in high-stress environments often feel invisible and alone, compounding the risks of burnout or worse.

Says Sridar Iyengar who set up one of India’s Big 4 operations in India and was a Chairman & CEO 1997-2000: “Leadership in a professional services firm should involve treating each person as a distinct individual and protecting them when necessary. Leadership must also shift organizational culture by dismantling the glorification of busy.”

Too often, corporate environments reward overwork, equating commitment with the ability to endure extreme conditions. This mindset normalizes unhealthy behaviours while ignoring the long-term damage to employees’ physical and mental health. Instead, firms must redefine success metrics to value quality over quantity, recognize employees who balance results with efficiency, and enforce overtime limits strictly.?

In the words of Bala Swaminathan, a former Big-4 Partner: “Leaders need to figure ways that can gauge stress levels and deal with it appropriately. Also, unlike the past, one size does not fit all. So being empathetic and getting a balance in the workplace is important. Leaders need to be educated on these areas and perhaps external help desks on anonymous basis need to evolve.”

The exploitative work practices prevalent in the professional services sector have largely escaped the scrutiny that has forced accountability in industries such as consumer goods and apparel. In these sectors, unethical practices like unsafe working conditions and labour abuses have been widely exposed, leading to public outrage, stricter regulations, and the expectation of ethical certifications. The professional services industry, operating under a veneer of corporate respectability, is not immune to similar exploitation.

Regulators and clients must demand the same level of accountability, ensuring that professional services firms adhere to ethical labour standards. Clients of professional services firms have the power to drive change by insisting that their service providers uphold fair treatment of people throughout the supply chain. By applying consistent pressure across industries, the systemic issues that enable exploitation can be dismantled, creating a more equitable and sustainable workplace culture.

Ultimately, the Big Four audit firms have built a profitable model by taking advantage of the weak labour regulations in India, moving work from developed markets under the guise of lower costs while concealing the reality that their profit margins are heavily underpinned by labour exploitation.

To prevent future tragedies like the death of Anna Sebastian Perayil, stronger enforcement of labour laws must be prioritized to protect workers’ rights. Global firms operating in India must align their practices with ethical labour standards, ensuring greater transparency and accountability. Crucially, by rethinking how organizations train leaders, monitor workloads, and redefine success, we can contribute to building environments where employees thrive rather than break under pressure.

After all, there is nothing more tragic than a young dream being snuffed out—whether by loss of life or loss of spirit.

Jamie Anderson is Professor of Leadership at Antwerp Management Business School, and Visiting Professor at the Indian School of Business Hyderabad.

Priyanka?Agrawal is Co-Founder and Head of Inclusional, Jetsynthesys, a tech-led, boutique consultancy that partners with organizations to leverage diversity, inclusion, belonging for business people, and economic growth.

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