Accountancy

Why EY staff could get poached after failed split

Rivals could seize on uncertainties to hire away auditing talent and frustrated senior managers amid a shortage of accountants, academics and advisers say

EY risks losing staff to competing firms after scrapping its plan to split into separate businesses and then announcing a round of layoffs, blemishes that rivals could say reflects a wounded firm.

The Big Four accounting giant last week decided not to move ahead with plans to separate into one firm focused on consulting and another centred on auditing, after a revolt led by some US partners and urged by a group of EY retirees.

WSJ Logo