EY reported combined global revenue of $57 billion for the financial year ended June 2026, representing growth of 4.7% in local currency and 7% in US dollars.
The results, announced on 8 October, show growth across all four service lines and all three geographic areas. Sales of artificial intelligence services increased by 49%, while the global workforce reached 415,182.
Behind these headline numbers, however, are substantial differences in how EY’s businesses are developing.
Strategy and transactions recorded the fastest revenue growth. Consulting added almost 7,500 employees. Assurance increased revenue despite reducing its headcount. In the Americas, employment fell by almost 4,500, even as revenue continued to grow.
Meanwhile, Global Entities, which include EY’s Global Delivery Services (GDS) operations, accounted for the largest increase in employee numbers.
Together, these developments provide a picture of how EY is expanding its business while changing the distribution of its workforce.
Four businesses, four growth rates
EY-Parthenon, the firm’s strategy and transactions business, recorded the strongest revenue growth in FY2026, increasing 7.4% in local currency to $6.8 billion.
Tax grew 6% to $13.8 billion, while consulting increased 4.4% to $17.4 billion.
Assurance remained EY’s largest service line, generating $18.9 billion, although its local-currency growth rate of 3% was the lowest of the four businesses.
Revenue is shown in US dollars. Local-currency growth rates are EY’s reported measures and are not calculated from the dollar figures.
The differences reflect variations in the growth of EY’s individual businesses. EY attributes its overall performance partly to increasing demand for AI-enabled business transformation, while reporting that EY-Parthenon benefited from growth in strategy and transactions activities.
Over the five years from FY2021 to FY2026, consulting recorded the highest compound annual revenue growth rate at 11.4%, followed by EY-Parthenon at 8.3%, Tax at 7.4% and Assurance at 6.6%.
Those longer-term figures offer a different perspective from the latest annual results. Consulting has expanded faster than the other service lines over the five-year period, even though EY-Parthenon led growth in FY2026.
AI services sales rise 49% — but how much revenue do they generate?
One of EY’s most prominent disclosures was the 49% increase in sales of AI services.
Janet Truncale, EY’s global chair and CEO, said clients were moving beyond experimenting with AI towards redesigning their operations.
EY also reported substantial investment in technology adoption and workforce training.
At the end of June 2026, 203,000 employees held Microsoft Copilot licences. By the date of the results announcement in October, that figure had increased to 381,000.
During the financial year, EY invested $448 million in employee training and development. Employees completed 5.2 million hours of formal AI-related learning and earned more than 40,000 AI learning accreditations.
The firm is also expanding AI deployment within audit services. EY reported that 130,000 assurance professionals were enabled by AI tools, including capabilities associated with the rollout of agentic AI.
However, an important piece of financial information is missing.
EY does not disclose the absolute value of its AI services revenue.
Consequently, although the 49% growth rate is substantial, the available figures do not establish what proportion of EY’s $57 billion revenue comes from AI services, or how much AI services contributed to the firm’s overall revenue increase.
Nor do they demonstrate whether AI-related investments have improved profitability.
The distinction between growth in sales and growth in earnings is particularly relevant when assessing the financial impact of new technologies.
Where EY’s revenue is growing
EY recorded revenue growth in every geographic area.
Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa (EMEIA) delivered the strongest local-currency increase at 5.1%, reaching $23.2 billion.
Asia-Pacific grew 4.9% to $7.8 billion, while the Americas increased 4.2% to $25.9 billion.
The Americas remained EY’s largest market, accounting for approximately 45.5% of reported global revenue.
EMEIA represented approximately 40.8%, with Asia-Pacific contributing the remaining 13.7%.
These shares are calculated from reported US-dollar revenues and should not be confused with the local-currency growth rates EY uses to measure underlying performance.
The results also reveal an important difference between revenue growth and employment trends, particularly in the Americas.
EY adds almost 9,000 employees — but not evenly
EY’s global workforce increased from 406,209 to 415,182, a net addition of 8,973 employees, or 2.2%.
Yet the geographical breakdown shows sharply contrasting developments.
Americas headcount declined by 4,484, a fall of 4.9%.
EMEIA added 2,513 employees, while Asia-Pacific added 852.
Global Entities, which include Global Delivery Services and other global support functions, increased by 10,092 employees, from 81,990 to 92,082.
The increase in Global Entities exceeded EY’s overall net workforce expansion because it offset reductions elsewhere, particularly in the Americas.
Global Entities now represent approximately 22.2% of EY’s total workforce, compared with 20.2% a year earlier.
EY explains that its Global Delivery Services operations provide support to member firms worldwide, including services for client-facing teams and internal business functions.
The figures therefore demonstrate a growing concentration of EY employees in global delivery and support structures.
They do not, however, establish that particular positions eliminated in the Americas were transferred to Global Delivery Services. EY’s disclosures do not provide sufficient information to trace individual employment changes or determine the extent of offshoring.
Assurance revenue rises while headcount falls
The breakdown by service line reveals another significant development.
Assurance revenue increased 3% in local currency, but its workforce declined from 130,898 to 130,279, a reduction of 619 employees.
Consulting showed the opposite pattern.
Its workforce increased from 124,238 to 131,678, a gain of 7,440 employees, or 6%.
Tax added 2,416 employees, while EY-Parthenon added 448.
Practice support headcount declined by 712.
Consulting has consequently overtaken Assurance as EY’s largest service line by employee numbers, employing approximately 1,400 more people, even though Assurance continues to generate more revenue.
EY reported that it continued investing in audit quality, technology and employees during the year. Its rollout of AI-enabled tools across Assurance is one element of that investment.
Revenue per employee: an imperfect measure
Dividing EY’s combined global revenue by its year-end workforce gives approximately $137,000 per employee in FY2026, compared with $131,000 in FY2025.
That is an increase of approximately 4.8%.
This is a simple calculated ratio, not an official EY productivity measure.
It divides full-year combined revenue by headcount at the end of each financial year rather than the average workforce employed during the year.
It is also affected by exchange rates, service-line composition, geographic staffing structures and the classification of employees in Global Entities.
EY’s own revenue figures include expenses billed to clients, which further limits comparisons with conventional measures of value added per employee.
The calculation nevertheless illustrates how reported revenue and workforce size have changed at different rates.
How EY compares with the other Big Four firms
EY’s latest results also provide an opportunity to compare its performance with the other Big Four audit firms, although differences in their financial reporting periods require caution.
Deloitte remains the largest, reporting $74.5 billion in global revenue for FY2026, an increase of 3.8% in local currency. EY’s $57 billion represents faster underlying growth of 4.7%, but leaves the firm approximately $17.5 billion behind Deloitte in annual revenue.
PwC reported $56.9 billion for FY2025, with local-currency growth of 2.7%. EY’s latest revenue is therefore marginally higher than PwC’s last reported figure, although PwC has not yet published its FY2026 global results.
KPMG, the smallest of the four by revenue, reported $39.8 billion for FY2025 on a continuing-operations basis, growing 5.1% in local currency.
The figures suggest that EY’s latest growth performance was stronger than Deloitte’s, despite Deloitte’s substantially larger scale. But a complete comparison of FY2026 performance will only be possible once PwC and KPMG have published their corresponding results.
All four firms report aggregated global revenues from legally separate member firms, rather than the consolidated revenue of a single worldwide corporate entity.
A changing business and workforce
EY's FY2026 results show a firm that continues to expand, with significant changes in the distribution of its workforce across services and locations.
Assurance remains the largest business by revenue, but consulting now employs more people. EY-Parthenon recorded the strongest annual revenue growth, while consulting remains the fastest-growing business over five years.
AI is an increasingly prominent part of EY’s commercial offering and internal operations, although the firm has not disclosed enough information to assess its contribution to global revenue or profitability.
Perhaps the most significant structural change visible in the figures is the expansion of Global Entities alongside workforce reductions in the Americas and Assurance.
Whether these movements reflect a sustained shift in EY’s operating model will require several years of comparable disclosures.
For now, EY’s results show a firm whose growth, workforce and delivery structure are becoming increasingly differentiated.
This article is part of the Big4News Investigations & Analysis series, which examines the structural forces shaping Deloitte, PwC, EY and KPMG.
About Claudine Cassar
I’m a corporate anthropologist and former Deloitte equity partner. I sold my technology business to Deloitte in 2016 and led the Malta Consulting team for five years. I am the founder and editor of Big4News, which provides independent, clear analysis of PwC, Deloitte, EY, and KPMG — free from corporate spin.
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