The UK's largest professional services firm. Known for audit, tax, and an increasingly large technology consulting practice. One of the biggest graduate employers in the country.
Deloitte is one of the Big Four, the four largest professional services firms in the world. In plain terms, it is a very large firm of experts that other organisations pay for advice. It checks that company accounts are accurate (audit), advises on tax and legal rules, helps organisations change how they work and use technology (consulting), and helps them manage risk and handle big deals such as company takeovers. In the UK its clients range from large listed companies to public bodies.
Deloitte was founded in London in 1845 by William Welch Deloitte, an accountant who opened an office on Basinghall Street and, according to Wikipedia, became the first independent auditor of a public company, the Great Western Railway. Over the years the firm grew through mergers, including with Haskins & Sells in 1952. The UK firm, Deloitte LLP, has its registered office at 1 New Street Square, London, and is part of the global Deloitte network of over 470,000 people in more than 150 countries. Darren Graves was announced as the UK senior partner and chief executive in April 2026. He joined Deloitte in 2001 as a graduate in the Business Tax team and became a partner in 2012, so he is an example of someone who built a whole career at the firm. In its FY25 results Deloitte said it had 26,000 UK colleagues.
Deloitte’s stated purpose is to “make an impact that matters”, meaning good results for clients, its people and society. It lists five shared values: lead the way, serve with integrity, take care of each other, foster inclusion, and collaborate for measurable impact. These are the firm’s own words. Its UK goals include becoming “the UK’s leading family-friendly employer” (including 26 weeks of fully paid leave for all new parents) and targets of 37% female partners by 2030 and 25 Black partners by 2030.
Since 2025 the UK firm has been organised into four businesses: Audit & Assurance; Strategy, Risk & Transactions Advisory; Tax & Legal; and Technology & Transformation. Work it names includes ERP implementation, cyber security, M&A services, financial services risk and regulation, and sustainability. It has opened technology delivery centres in Belfast, Cardiff, Manchester and Newcastle, plus new offices in Bristol and Aberdeen.
Deloitte hires across the UK, with offices in places such as Aberdeen, Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, London, Manchester and Newcastle. In September 2026 it said more than 1,500 early careers people were joining, 44% of them outside London. Routes include school-leaver programmes (Explore Work for Years 9 to 11, ASPIRE for state-school Year 12 students who meet a background criterion, and Career Shapers in Northern Ireland and Scotland), the Entry Level Apprenticeship (at least 5 GCSEs including grade 4/C in English and Maths), the BrightStart higher apprenticeship (104 UCAS points if gained after 2017), 12-month paid industrial placements, and graduate programmes, which mostly ask for a predicted 2:1 in any subject. Deloitte says it looks for creative thinking, determination and curiosity. New joiners get a two-day induction, and early careers training is a 50:50 mix of online and in-person learning. Ben Newton, who joined as a BrightStart apprentice straight from school, became a partner after 12 years (Deloitte, 2023).
Website: www.deloitte.com/uk/en.html
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