South Korea’s four biggest accounting firms posted record revenue in their latest fiscal years, driven by surging demand for digital transformation (DX) and artificial intelligence transformation (AX) consulting, even as their audit businesses grew more slowly.
Combined revenue at Samil PricewaterhouseCoopers (Samil PwC), Samjong KPMG Accounting Corp., EY Hanyoung and Deloitte Anjin LLC reached 3.88 trillion won ($2.8 billion), up 5.8% from a year earlier, according to filings with the Financial Supervisory Service on Tuesday.
Samil PwC, the Korean arm of global accounting and consulting giant PwC, led the pack.
Its revenue for the fiscal year ended in June 2025 rose 10% year-over-year to 1.56 trillion won, its second consecutive year above the 1 trillion won threshold. Audit, tax and advisory businesses all expanded, while PwC Consulting added 446.0 billion won, a 14% increase.
Samjong KPMG reported 875.5 billion won in revenue for the fiscal year ended in March, up 2.7% from a year earlier, supported by growth in tax and management advisory services.
Its audit segment declined 1.8%, and the firm does not operate a separate consulting arm.
Deloitte Anjin and its consulting affiliate together generated 680 billion won in revenue, up 7% from the previous year.
Anjin’s revenue for the fiscal year ended in May fell 1.5% to 507.4 billion won on weaker advisory demand, but Deloitte Consulting surged 51% to 151.9 billion won.
EY Hanyoung was the only major firm to post a decline.
Its revenue slipped 2.3% on-year to 764.8 billion won in the fiscal year ended in June, though consulting contributed 39% of the total at 234.0 billion won.
“Corporate demand for DX and AX consulting has grown sharply, buoying consulting revenue significantly,” said an industry official.
PROFITABILITY DIVERGES
Profitability varied widely.
Samil PwC boosted its operating income 55.6% to 26 billion won, while EY Hanyoung’s profit rose 52% to 13.9 billion won, helped by tighter cost controls.
Deloitte’s operating profit dropped 4.5% to 10.5 billion won, while Samjong KPMG barely broke even with 1 billion won.
By productivity, measured as revenue per employee, Samil PwC led with 260.2 million won, followed by Samjong KPMG at 201.1 million won, EY Hanyoung at 212.1 million won and Deloitte Anjin at 188.4 million won.
By Seok-Cheol Choi
dolsoi@hankyung.com
Sookyung Seo edited this article.
