BT (LON:BT) have announced plans to slash 4,000 jobs alongside steep cuts to executive pay, alongside a 19 percent fall in pre-tax profit.

Pre-tax profits fell nearly 20 percent to £2.3 billion for the year to the end of March, with the final quarter seeing a 48 percent drop to £440 million.

BT’s chief executive Gavin Patterson will see his pay cut by £4 million, being paid £1.34 million for the year to the end of March. The figure consists of an annual salary of £993,000, a 74 percent reduction on the £5.28 million he received the previous year.

The company slashed executive pay and scrapped bonus payments after £530 million accounting scandal at its Italian Global Services operations. The chair of its remuneration committee Tony Ball said the past year had been “challenging”.

“Although good progress has been made in a number of areas, unfortunately our performance has been significantly affected by the accounting irregularities in our Italian business, the issues that arose in Openreach around deemed consent and the significant challenges we faced in the UK public sector and international corporate markets.

“The committee has made a number of difficult decisions this year in light of these circumstances and exercised its discretion accordingly,” he concluded.

The 4,000 jobs will be cut from its Global Services division, with the telecoms giant hoping to save £300 million over two years and “offset market and regulatory pressures and support investment”.

Shares in BT are currently down 2.40 percent at 304.60 (0940GMT).