EY's executive leadership moved to split its 34-year-old business amid pressure from regulators.
The charge levelled at the largest accounting firms, the Big Four, was that billions of dollars had been lost because accountants couldn't spot the worst accounting scandals at the firms they audited because of conflicts of interest.
The plan — or Operation Everest — an 18-month consultation with 13,000 EY partners to peel away the audit from the lucrative consulting operations really was an effort to build out opportunity, from the prosperous tax service that was part of consulting work.
Separately, ringfencing audit services would be a gift to just about every national audit regulator from the US, and UK to Europe and APAC regions. Who could refuse to hand out audit tenders to a firm with big expertise, global capacity and which is no longer jammed between conflicts over consulting work conducted by colleagues on the next floor?
Now, all that is left is a repair job, to restore confidence in the market, starting from inside the firm itself.
Here are the 10 stories you must read to get the inside track on EY's fall... and fall:
EY partners get top-secret briefing on firm break-up at Hyde Park hotel
Why EY’s split of audit and consulting arms will be messy
Retired EY partners question plans to split firm
EY pauses split amid partner infighting
EY scraps break-up plan after opposition from US arm
EY execs under fire over split failure: ‘We sell M&A… we can’t even deliver it’
EY counts $600m cost of failed breakup bid
EY staff told to bill clients ‘every hour we can get our hands on’ after failed breakup deal
EY partners want new direction from execs after split failure: ‘What is your plan B?’
EY split plans won’t come back any time soon
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