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Apparently there is a dispute:
the head of the powerful national unit EY USA,
Kelly Grier,
is leaving the company.
She should ...
Photo: EY / youtube
The planned split of the third largest auditing company EY is apparently causing significant differences within the network of consultants.
After a dispute with global boss
Carmine Di Sibio
(59), US boss
Kelly Grier
is leaving the company, reports the "Financial Times".
Grier (53), the first woman to head EY USA, has worked for EY for 30 years and most recently led 81,000 employees in 31 countries with annual sales of $21.2 billion.
Grier is also a member of EY's Global Executive and Global Practice Group.
The dispute that ultimately led to the split was about EY US's influence within the company's international activities.
There was also dissent about what contribution the US company, as the largest national unit, should make available to finance EY Global, reports the “FT”, citing insiders.
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... lost the power struggle with
Carmine Di Sibio,
head of EY Global.
Photo: MIKE BLAKE / REUTERS
Planned division into testing and consulting business
At the same time, the lost power struggle illustrates the problems and tensions in the group to reach a consensus within the 13,000 partners worldwide on a possible spin-off of the testing business from the high-margin consulting business.
EY is structured as a network of legally separate national member firms that pay a fee to EY Global, which does not serve clients directly but manages the firm's brand and technology and oversees the relationship between its firms in 150 countries.
EY employs around 312,000 people worldwide.
The company is active in 150 countries.
Wirecard scandal has damaged EY's reputation
EY's testing business has been criticized by several scandals - in Germany because of the Wirecard scandal.
The supervisory authorities not only accuse the auditors of EY of a lack of independence in the audit of the balance sheet, because at the same time they earn well from the fees for advising their clients.
A voluntary split would possibly anticipate coercive measures, it said.
EY is now considering exiting through an IPO or partial sale of its global consulting business, the report says, in what would be the largest restructuring of one of the top four accounting firms since the collapse of US energy company Enron in 2001.
struggle for influence and participation
US partners elected Grier to head the powerful national unit for four years in 2018.
The latter generated more than 40 percent of EY's global revenues of around $40 billion last year.
This apparently gave Grier a healthy self-confidence and also seemed to awaken her claim to power.
Grier is "always particularly partial to the US company," the "FT" quoted one of the insiders as saying.
"She wanted to give the US company a much greater say in the global structure," the source said.
She also criticized the apparently high financial needs of EY Global.
As a result, the "relationships with world boss Carmine deteriorated rapidly".
Grier was considered a possible successor to Di Sibio, whose four-year term ends in June 2023.
To this end, the manager probably also advertised on her own behalf, and Grier may have overdone it in her attempt to position herself as Di Sibio's successor, the newspaper quotes another insider who is familiar with the conflict between the two most powerful EY managers is familiar with.
"She flew too close to the sun and burned her wings."
While Grier and Di Sibio declined to comment on the report, when asked by FT, EY said it was the manager's "own decision" to leave the company.
At the same time, EY highlighted Grier's track record in the statement.
Grier has made a significant contribution to sales growth and record results while at the same time providing "the highest quality of testing".
rei
