Layoffs

A technical glitch prevented Internal Revenue Service officials from notifying laid-off employees by email, so the IRS will be sending them letters, instead.

The Internal Revenue Service is reportedly planning layoffs of thousands of first-year probationary employees in the midst of tax season as soon as this week.

The layoffs span the accounting firm's advisory, tax and audit businesses.

The Big Four firm has cut roughly 330 people from its U.S. audit business to combat near historic low employee turnover rates.

Ernst & Young fired dozens of its U.S. staffers for taking multiple online training courses simultaneously, violating the firm's ethic's policies.

Accounting solutions provider FreshBooks will be laying off roughly 20% of its staff across all teams, and at all levels around the world.

The cuts include roughly 240 employees in RSM's consulting businesses, and come as demand for the profession's consulting services wanes.

The cutbacks are a sign of further retrenchment among the Big Four firms.

The firm employs about 7,700 people in Canada and had already cut about 2% of its workforce in the country at the end of last year.

The cutbacks in the Australia region are the latest sign of pressure in an industry that spans accounting, audit and consulting.