An EY senior partner, during a call with some of the accounting firm’s US partners and staff, delivered a sober message usually reserved for clients: It’s time to cut costs.

“This has been a difficult week as we took needed action to address resource challenges in our business, where growth has notably slowed or where we have excess capacity,” said Dave Burg, EY’s head of Americas cybersecurity, in the webcast call on 14 December.