The world’s four major consulting firms are stopping their operations in Russia. They are splitting off their Russian business branches, which do continue to operate on their own.
The four big names in consulting are shutting down operations in Russia and Belarus. Deloitte, KPMG, EY and PwC are pulling out of the countries in response to the invasion of Ukraine. The companies’ operations are not stopping completely. In practice, they are divesting their presence in the two countries so that they become separate entities. These can still continue to operate independently.
Debt of Russian government
“We believe we have a responsibility to respond to the Russian government’s attack on Ukraine. Therefore, our firms in Russia and Belarus will leave the KPMG network,” explained a KPMG spokesperson. “The decision is a consequence of the Russian government’s actions.”
PwC tells a similar story. “As a result of the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian government, we have decided that PwC should not have a firm in Russia. PwC Russia will therefore leave our network. PwC’s focus remains to do everything we can to help our Ukrainian colleagues.”
“The global EY organization will no longer serve Russian clients, state-owned enterprises or entities or people under sanctions anywhere in the world,” EY said in turn. “EY has initiated a restructuring of the Russian firm to separate it from the global network.”
Major impact
All firms say the decision is difficult given the impact on ordinary employees. KPMG has 4,500 people in Russia and Belarus, PwC employs 3,700 and EY has 4,700 on its payroll. For Deloitte, another 3,000 people will be added. These are not immediately without jobs, but will henceforth be employed by a Russian firm without international support, which is no longer part of the larger consulting networks.
Consulting firms are thickening an ever-growing list of organizations that have decided on their own to stop serving Russia. In doing so, the organizations are going beyond the sanctions imposed. For example, Microsoft already announced that it is scaling back its operations. Cogent, in turn, is stopping providing connectivity. Oracle and SAP also ceased operations in Russia, and Apple is stopping physical sales of devices.