German Audit Firms Slash Entry-Level Hiring as AI Takes Over Junior Tasks
Published on 07/28/2026 at 13:12 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
The traditional career ladder in Germany’s auditing and consulting sector is being dismantled. Two-thirds of audit firms plan to significantly cut back on hiring new graduates and reduce junior positions over the coming years, according to a survey by consultancy Lünendonk & Hossenfelder. The driving force: artificial intelligence is increasingly handling the routine tasks that once formed the backbone of entry-level roles.
Fresh Graduates Face a Shrinking Job Market
The shift is already visible in the numbers. Data from job platform Stepstone shows that postings for junior positions have dropped by more than 16% compared to the overall market average in recent years. This comes at a time when young academics are already struggling.
Research from DZ Bank paints a stark picture: the number of unemployed university graduates under 30 more than doubled between 2022 and 2025. The unemployment rate for this group rose by nearly half over the same period. While routine tasks are being automated, Oxford researcher Stephany warns of a looming skills gap. In five years, companies could face a shortage of experienced senior staff, he says, because the pipeline of junior talent entering the profession is being choked off.
Automation Reshapes Job Profiles and Training
Companies including Otto, EY and SAP are already using AI for tasks such as invoice reconciliation. These automations hit professions with high repetition rates hardest. The Institute for Employment Research (IAB) initially rated the substitution potential for tax clerks at 100%, but revised that figure down to 50% after a new training regulation took effect in 2023. A recent AI-resilience check gave this occupation a score of 4.2 out of 6, classifying it as relatively easy to replace.
The PwC AI Jobs Barometer, covering 2019 to 2025, found that the correlation between a job’s exposure to AI and changes in required skills in Germany is just 0.02 — nearly zero. Yet job profiles have shifted dramatically. In AI-heavy occupations, an average of 225 new skill requirements emerged between 2019 and 2025. The market for AI specialists is splitting: in 2025, 109,400 job postings targeted AI users, while only 15,400 were for specialized developers.
Firms Take Divergent Approaches to Training
Major audit and consulting firms are responding to the technological shift in different ways. EY is focusing on hiring generalists, while Deloitte has adopted a dual-training model that integrates AI use from the start. At SAP, junior employees report using generative AI systems daily in their practical work.
The technology is also reshaping how candidates apply for jobs. A survey by karriere.at of 1,005 participants found that half of all applicants now use AI to prepare their application documents — up from 27% just two years ago. Among those users, 87% employ AI for cover letters and 56% for résumés. Only 11% have so far used AI-generated application photos. The trend suggests that technological fluency is becoming a prerequisite not just for performing jobs, but for getting them in the first place.
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