EY Poaches Someone From KPMG and Issues a Press Release, Part III
Finally we have some Big 4-on-Big 4 poaching action here in the good ol’ US of A to write about, even though it involves a lateral move. After an 11-year stay at the House of Mickelson as a principal, Mitch Kenfield has joined EY’s Consulting practice in the same role. He announced his recent departure […]
Compensation Watch ’21: Did EY Redeem Itself In the Eyes of Their Employees? (UPDATE)
(Updated post from Aug. 18 with a comparison of average raise percentages per promotion from 2018 and 2016.) 2020 was a pretty ugly year for the Black and Yellow—and especially for EY employees. Let’s recap, shall we? No performance-based bonuses. Raises only to those who received a promotion. Lots and lots of layoffs. Unlimited PTO; […]
Here’s the Truth About What Really Happens at EY’s Neuro-Diverse Center of Excellence From Someone Who Was There
Ed. note: the following is a first-hand account of one person’s experience at the EY Neuro-Diverse Center of Excellence. The author has requested to be anonymous. On Saturday Night Live last March, Elon Musk came out on national TV as having Asperger’s syndrome. For the neurodiverse, this event was momentous not only because Musk hosted […]
EY Rakes In $40 Billion In Global Revenue, Will Try Not to Suck So Much At Auditing
A day after Deloitte got the Big 4 revenue boasting season rolling yesterday, EY announced today that it pulled in a “solid” $40 billion ($39,959,000,000, to be exact) in revenue for the year ending June 30, a 7.3% increase over 2020’s $37.2 billion. But aside from all the patting each other on the back for […]
EY Is Helping Its Broke Interns Get Their 150 Credits
In the war for talent, it’s not (imaginary) prestige or ping-pong tables that will win the battle but cold hard cash. Or, in this case, a little help with what is often a costly and time-intensive venture for future CPAs. Last week, EY announced their new Career Path Accelerator, the TL;DR of which is an […]
EY UK Sheds Some Pounds Because An Audit Partner Messed Up Big Time
The UK’s audit cops were itchin’ to dole out some discipline today, and the butts that were paddled belong to ex-audit partner Mark Harvey and his former employer EY. The Financial Times reported: Accounting firm EY has been fined £2.2m and issued with a severe reprimand for failings in its audit of Stagecoach, the London-listed […]
What In the Name of Kelly Grier Is This Nonsense!?
Yeesh. Hope they pick you, my guy!
EY Learns the Hard Way Not to Screw Around with the SEC’s Auditor Independence Rules
Back on Aug. 12, 2019, Bubble Wrap maker Sealed Air Corp. disclosed in an 8-K that it had fired EY as its “independent” registered public accounting firm and stated that it had hired PwC. OK, no biggie, the auditor carousel is always going round and round in the Big 4. But the most interesting tidbit […]
EY Thinks Its Women Can Make or Break Their Careers On the Golf Course
It’s been years since the show ended but I started a rewatch of Mad Men recently, and when I came across the article I’m about to share with you, I couldn’t help but think of a particular scene. This episode aired 13 years ago (yikes) so I’m hoping none of you will need a spoiler […]
EY Is Building an Even Better Better Working World With Its Expanded Neurodivergent Hire Plans
In April of this year, EY announced the launch of its Boston Neuro-Diverse Center of Excellence, the sixth of its kind EY has opened in the United States since launching the program in the mid-2010s. You see, it turns out that many — not all, but many — neurodivergent individuals are particularly excellent at data […]
PwC Poaches Someone From EY and Issues a Press Release, Part III
Hundreds of people have bolted EY to join PwC in different locations around the world the past dozen years but this is only the third time one of those moves has been documented on this here website. So congrats to Mike Holford for being the subject of this most recent “PwC Poaches Someone From EY […]
KPMG Poaches Someone From EY and Issues a Press Release, Part VII
Another day, another EYer getting poached by KPMG. This time Marlon Richardson (pictured left) has departed the Ernstiverse to join the partnership at KPMG U.K. The website Energy Voice reported: The “big four” accountancy firm KPMG has appointed a former oil and gas partner at rival EY to its energy practice. Marlon Richardson spent seven […]
Promotion Watch ’21: EY Admits 830 New Partners Worldwide
Big promotion announcement today at EY on the eve of its new fiscal year: the firm admitted its largest-ever new partner class: The EY organization announces that 830 people have been promoted to partner across the globe, the largest ever cohort of new partners. Women and audit represent 34% and 26% of this year’s new […]
Deloitte Poaches Someone From EY and Issues a Press Release, Part III
Across the pond, Deloitte recently announced that it had promoted 79 Green Dotters to partner, an increase of 18% over last year. Of those new partners, 24 are women. Unfortunately, Deloitte U.K. didn’t release the names of its new chosen ones, but presumably Nicola Wright’s name would have been on that list. Wright got her […]
EY Global CEO Carmine Di Sibio Spotted at Tonight’s New York Islanders Playoff Game
A tweet tonight from ESPN senior NHL writer Greg Wyshynski: Wow #JerseyFoul pic.twitter.com/d9XDWuWlts — Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) June 9, 2021 OK, so it’s likely not Carmine. But Adrienne and I can’t figure out why the hell somebody would pay good money to have that name stitched on the back of their Islanders jersey. I said […]
KPMG Poaches Someone From EY and Issues a Press Release, Part VI
Poaching season never rests, especially in the U.K. In today’s edition of “Big 4-on-Big 4 Poaching From Around the World,” Ian Wood can get his old KPMG coffee mug out of storage because he’s back at where it all began, this time as part of the firm’s Energy Lead Advisory team. According to a press […]
EY Just Bought Some Really Expensive Pancakes
In late 2019, we learned that EY thinks women are a bunch of dumb sluts who need to be told to cover up the goods in a professional setting, so much so that a day-and-a-half long “leadership seminar” held at the firm’s Hoboken office in 2018 focused intently on this bit (er, their bits?). HuffPo […]
EY Poaches Someone From Deloitte and Issues a Press Release, Parts III and IV
In today’s edition of “Big 4-on-Big 4 Poaching From Around the World,” EY has added a couple of ex-Green Dotters to its partnership ranks in the U.K. and Australia. David Bowen announced on LinkedIn in early May that he would be leaving Deloitte U.K. to become a partner and lead EY’s family office advisory services […]
EY’s Europe Restructuring Is Just ‘Rearranging the Deckchairs on the Titanic’
“This is rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. To regulators, they have always been giving warnings that if you close one down, we will be the Big 3 – so leave us alone, as we are ‘too big to fail’. Fundamentally, it’s the leadership culture and aggressively commercial model of these firms which is broken […]
EY Learns That LGBT People Just Want to Collect a Paycheck Like Everyone Else
June is soon upon us which means rainbows slapped across corporate social media pages far and wide as a way for companies to say “hey, we’re OK with gay!” Which, I mean, that’s cool and all but maybe we’ll achieve a point in our lifetimes where people of all backgrounds can feel welcome and accepted […]
EY Poaches Someone From Deloitte and Issues a Press Release, Part II
In today’s edition of “Big 4-on-Big 4 Poaching From Around the World,” we head to London where Jill Trafford finally got an invitation to participate in games Big 4 partners play. She announced her promotion at EY on LinkedIn earlier this month: With EY dangling a promotion to partner, Trafford decided to dip from her […]
Hywel Talks Hybrid At EY U.K.
“We have championed flexible working for many years prior to COVID-19 and we will continue to do so. This has been built on a culture of trust with our people. We also believe there will always be a need for EY to have office space across the U.K., but how we use our offices in […]
EY Had An Office In Gaza Media Tower Leveled By Israeli Air Strike
Thanks to a tipster who sent us a link to a Facebook post from Saed Abdallah, a partner at EY Palestinian Authority: The missile strike on the 12-story al-Jalaa building in Gaza City was carried out by Israel because it claimed the building was also used by the Islamist militant group Hamas. The building, which […]
Due to a Lack of 12-Year-Olds to Run This By, EY Israel Totally Missed the Double Entendre In This Brochure
*snort* Via the tip box: You can’t make this up! I don’t know if a double entendre was intended, but it definitely raises questions. Some have been commenting, why can’t there be penetration and protection?
Bonus Watch ’21: EY UK Is Paying Employees a ‘Lockdown Bonus’ Even Though It May Encourage a Dreaded Entitlement Mentality
At the end of March, the Queen’s Deloitte announced in a firm-wide webcast that thanks to employees’ hard work and determination throughout the pandemic the firm would be giving them up to £2,000. You know, as a way to say “hey, sorry we had to cut back when the panini scared the shit out of […]
Even EYers Think PwC Is a Better Firm Than EY
Leave it to EY to turn a call with staff into a high school pep rally. And leave it to one EY employee to hilariously try to torpedo it. This was posted on Fishbowl earlier today: The funny thing is another EYer who was on that call told us he/she was considering doing something similar […]
The Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For: EY #41 (2021)
Bringing up the rear among the Big 4 firms in the 2021 F100BCTWF is EY at No. 41. The good news is, even after all the cringey decisions EY leadership made over the past year—temporarily shelving performance-based bonuses, getting rid of senior manager promotion bonuses, giving raises only to EYers who went up in rank, […]
EY to Staff: Pledge Allegiance to the United States of EY or Go Find Another Job (UPDATE)
Ed. note: We have updated this article at the bottom with details on a cheating scandal at EY that puts the mystery of this oddly aggressive all-hands call to rest Not sure if y’all have heard but EY has really been struggling to not look like total jackasses in recent history. The reputational fallout really […]
German Investigator Can Confidently Prove EY Was Unbelievably Bad At Auditing Wirecard
Bloomberg reported on Saturday: A special parliamentary investigator lists far-reaching shortcomings in Ernst & Young’s audits of Wirecard AG before the German financial technology company collapsed last year, a person familiar with the report said. The investigator lists about 11 incidences where EY failed to take measures to uncover the multibillion fraud, said the person, who spoke […]
Believe It or Not, Deloitte and EY Have Some Prestige In the Banking World
It’s a given every year that the Big 4 firms will end up in Vault’s rankings of the best and the most prestigious accounting and consulting firms to work for. But banking? Yeah, last year I found out that’s a thing, for Deloitte and EY anyway. In Vault’s 2020 Banking 50, Deloitte Corporate Finance was […]
EY Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Parts IV and V
In today’s edition of “Big 4-on-Big 4 Poaching From Around the World,” we’re focusing on the strategy consulting arms of PwC and EY in Australia, as Miles Tam recently left PwC’s Strategy& as a director to join the partnership at EY Port Jackson Partners. In addition, EY Port Jackson Partners lured Chris Paxton away from […]
Successful Whistleblower Slings Some More Mud at EY
“I didn’t feel I had a choice. I had to fight for justice. And any cursory examination of the facts of the case showed that I was clearly in the right. Given that, I have never been able to understand why EY fought a losing battle for so long.” — Amjad Rihan, a former audit […]
Another Big 4 Firm Sticks It to Women
[Updated on March 25 with information on the leading CEO candidate at Deloitte Australia.] You can cross EY Oceania off the list of potential landing spots for a woman CEO of a Big 4 firm, as David Larocca, currently the managing partner of EY Oceania’s Strategy and Transactions business, will take the reins from CEO […]
EY’s Kelly Grier Is Eager to ‘Forge a Path Forward’ to Coworkers Disturbing Your Concentration at the Office Again
If introverted EYers were expecting another quiet Monday as a socially-accepted hermit in these troubling times they were in for a surprise this morning when EY Chair Kelly Grier came crashing into their inboxes with an update on the big post-COVID plans. Spoiler: it involves making yourself available in the office. The following email has […]
Tweet of the Day: New Competition Show For Big 4 Accountants Is (Probably Not) Coming to Fox
This was tweeted last night by New York Times culture reporter and author Dave Itzkoff after seeing the defenders of the ballots from EY on stage at the Golden Globe Awards: The Masked Accountant, this spring on Fox pic.twitter.com/fQ34Rnjv3D — Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) March 1, 2021 *Chef’s kiss* Related article: EY Is Bringing Its Shiny […]
Wirecard Drama of the Day: Hubert Barth Was Most Likely Forced Out as EY Germany CEO
Whether it’s in the sports world or the business world, whenever you see a press release or an article that says, “[PERSON’S NAME] is stepping down from [HIS/HER] role as [EXECUTIVE JOB TITLE] and will be taking another position with the [TEAM NAME/COMPANY NAME],” it’s because that person sucked at his/her job or something bad […]
EY Employees Are Building a Better Working World One Colored Pencil At a Time
EY employees have had to endure a lot of crap in the past six months, most notably seeing many of their colleagues and friends lose their jobs and being told by management they have an “entitlement mentality” when it comes to vacation and then having unlimited PTO shoved down their throats. But as a reward […]
Layoff Watch ’21: EY Gave Client Technology Staffers a Parting Gift As They Were Being Kicked to the Curb
Before we recently learned what was happening behind the scenes with workplace services staff and on-site technology support employees at EY, we got tipped off from someone in client technology that his/her and others’ jobs were being eliminated or offshored. After a couple of weeks of not hearing anything else about what was going on […]
EY Isn’t Botching As Many Audits These Days, According to Latest PCAOB Inspection Report
The Big 4 firm behind the most boring TV ad during Super Bowl LV last night has shown improvements in audit quality in its last two PCAOB inspection reports. Some may say that EY having a former PCAOB member on its Independent Audit Quality Committee is why the number of EY audits with deficiencies is […]
EY U.S. Chair Kelly Grier Is Super Excited About EY’s Super Bowl Ad, You Guys
All those employees sent packing last September and October and going to unlimited PTO must have freed up enough money for EY to blow on an ad debuting during tomorrow’s Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And no one is more pumped about it than Kelly Grier, EY U.S. […]
Layoff Watch ’21: EY On-Site Technology Support Employees Were Also Given a Voluntary Early Retirement Offer
We learned yesterday that EY is transitioning the workplace services portion of its enterprise support services team to real estate firm CBRE, which also specializes in facilities management. So workplace services staff have a choice to make: apply for a role with CBRE or voluntarily take an early retirement offer. Today we learned that about […]
Layoff Watch ’21: EY Workplace Services Coordinators Apparently Have a Decision to Make
[Updated this evening with additional information.] This was sent to our tipline last night: All workplace services coordinators at EY will have to go work for a contractor or be fired. They are telling employees tomorrow. They are making a big deal by saying this is not a lay off. Admins and IT will be […]
EY Poaches Someone From Deloitte and Issues a Press Release, Part I
If there’s one way to describe the hiring practices at Big 4 firms it would be “turnabout is fair play.” For example, when one former KPMGer strolls through the doors to start his or her new job at PwC, there’s always another person who just left P. Dubs for a new role at the Radio […]
Number of the Day: 15.3%
The Queen’s EY recently released its 2020 Pay Gap Report, and the good news is the gender pay gap among EY U.K. staff is slowly closing, but the bad news is the ethnicity pay gap is growing. Chairman Hywel Ball said: I am pleased that our gender pay gap has improved by 4.7%, achieved by […]
This EY Manager’s Expectations of Staff Are Slightly Unreasonable And By Slightly We Mean Holy F*ck Dude
It’s Friday, which means at least one of your colleagues will probably have some last-minute issue exactly at 4 p.m. (or whatever your 4 p.m. would be if you worked normal hours like most employed human beings) that absolutely must be resolved before you can call it a day. Or perhaps you have a manager […]
Hiring Watch ’21: EY India Is On the Hunt For Thousands of Techies
Press Trust of India reported on Dec. 24 that EY is going on a hiring spree in India next year: Global professional services organisation EY on Thursday announced that it would be inducting in 2021 about 9,000 new hires in India. These will be in various technology roles across all member firms including the global […]
Compensation Watch ’20: EY Employees Don’t Get Screwed For Once
Yesterday, my esteemed colleague Bramwell regaled you with tales of boring lines at Starbucks along with the latest buzz on bonuses at EY Canada, while also insinuating that EY U.S. had already given its people a substantial gift when they announced unlimited PTO in October. That last bit is obviously a joke, perhaps not too […]
Bonus Watch ’20: EY Canada Made It Rain Christmas Bonuses
On Saturday while I was waiting in line at Starbucks, I was scrolling Reddit and saw a couple posts on r/Big4 about EY of the Canadian variety handing out Christmas bonuses to senior managers on down. According to one post, here’s what everybody got: $1,500 for managers and senior managers $750 for staff and seniors […]
No Foolin’, EY Extends Work From Home to At Least April 2021
Last we checked in on the ongoing work-from-home situation at EY in August, EY Americas vice chair of risk management Jay Persaud told his firm’s beloved army of waffles and pancakes they should expect to stay home until at least January 2021. Not to scare anyone but January 2021 is 21 days from now. It […]
KPMG Poaches Someone From EY and Issues a Press Release, Parts IV and V
Back in March (which seems like three years ago) KPMG introduced its latest senior tax hires, which included a couple folks the Radio Station snagged from PwC and a few former EYers. Late last month, KPMG sent out another missive that included its latest round of senior tax hires, two of whom came from EY. […]
EY Threw Its Disgruntled Employees a Bone
It’s been well over a month now since EY announced it was moving away from its accrual-based vacation policy and going unlimited PTO, to the dismay of nearly all of the firm’s “entitled” employees. And EYers are still making their displeasure with the move known via memes and posts on the usual chatter sites and […]
EY Shouldn’t Be Awarded Any New U.K. Government Contracts For Three Years Because EY Is Bad, Says Some Group
“Banning [EY] for three years from UK public contracts would send an incredibly powerful message that the government will not give public contracts to companies that engage in misconduct … and do not get their house in order.” — Spotlight on Corruption, an anti-corruption campaign group based in the U.K., wrote in a recent letter […]
One EY Employee Is Getting Antsy About the Prospect of More Layoffs Next Year
With the stench of the performance-based separations layoffs from a couple months ago still lingering in the air at EY, one person who survived the wide-ranging job cuts told us recently that (s)he is already worried about a similar situation happening across the firm in 2021. Here’s what this EYer said: A few weeks ago, […]
Moss Adams Poaches Someone From EY and Issues a Press Release, Parts I and II
Moss Adams went to the EY well to get two of its newest partners: Jeremy Kuhlmann and Syed Rizvi. Kuhlmann recently joined MA’s life sciences practice in Seattle: He has practiced public accounting since 2004, primarily serving life science, technology and advanced manufacturing companies. Kuhlmann has extensive experience with complex accounting and financial reporting matters, […]
EY Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Part III
EY U.K. is so excited about its recent hire of a former PwC partner that someone in communications actually sent us this message earlier today: I absolutely loved the first two parts of your ‘EY Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release,’ To complete the trilogy, I wondered if you’d be interested in […]
Question of the Day: Is EY the New KPMG?
For as long as I can remember, KPMG has always been the butt of Big 4 jokes: Big 3 + KPMG, a golf apparel company masquerading as a Big 4 firm, the red-headed stepchild of the profession, always a bridesmaid and never a bride, Scott London, Caleb worked there, etc. But with the whole “pancakes […]
Layoff Watch ’20: EY Ireland Is Letting Go of 36 Non-Client-Facing Staffers
Let’s see, since the start of the pandemic, EY has done performance-based separations layoffs in Canada, Israel, Mexico, and, of course, the U.S. Now we can add Ireland to the list. This just hit our tipline: Not as impressive as the few hundred pink slips being given out across the US, but it was announced […]
EY Changes Its Vacation Policy, Oh and BTW They’re Not Paying Out Accrued PTO If You “Leave”
In a nationwide email to staff today, EY announced that they’re tweaking their vacation policy. Although it’s framed as a switch to “flexible” time-off, the biggest change is that — excluding states in which this practice is illegal — the firm will not be paying out accrued PTO to individuals who leave or are fired […]
Here’s the Latest on Tina Frost, the EY Accountant Shot During the 2017 Las Vegas Massacre
Tina Frost (right) pictured with her mother, Mary Watson Moreland. As we approach the third anniversary of the awful mass shooting in Las Vegas during the Route 91 Harvest Festival outdoor country music concert, the family of Tina Frost provided an update a few weeks ago on her recovery. Frost, an accountant with EY in […]
Wirecard Drama of the Day: EY … Y U No Listen to Whistleblower?
A new Financial Times report once again makes EY look completely incompetent as the auditors of the ill-fated German payments company Wirecard: EY was warned in 2016 by one of its own employees that senior managers at Wirecard may have committed fraud and one had attempted to bribe an auditor. The revelation that an EY […]
Rumor of the Day: A Big 4 Firm Picked Up an Out-of-This-World Audit Client
From the tipline yesterday: EY just won the NASA audit. Well that’s a pretty nice get for the Black and Yellow. Our source didn’t have much more info to share other than (s)he found out during a Government and Public Sector call on Wednesday and that EY prevailed in the competitive bidding process. So which […]
Layoff Watch ’20: Apparently It’s Doomsday for Some at EY (UPDATE)
[Updated on Sept. 23 with additional information.] EY management stuck to their narrative today that the recent layoffs at the firm aren’t layoffs but performance-based separations that were justified, even though many of those who have contacted us after losing their jobs said they weren’t on any type of performance improvement plan. First, before EY […]
Wirecard Drama of the Day: EY Is Bleeding Audit Clients In Germany
Earlier this month, Commerzbank, Germany’s second-largest lender, and DWS Group, Deutsche Bank’s asset-management arm, both decided against using EY Germany as their auditor because they were freaked out by how bad this Wirecard accounting scandal has become. This was followed by EY Global Chairman and CEO Carmine Di Sibio sending a letter to clients, expressing […]
EY Employees Don’t Have to Work with Pants On Until January 2021 at the Earliest
We meant to post this a few weeks ago, but with the layoffs, angry letters about the layoffs, FY 2020 global revenues, and new partner promotions at EY taking up a lot of our time of late, this got put on the back burner. Thanks to a source, here is the return-to-the-office update from Jay […]
Layoff Watch ’20: EY Canada Job Cuts Are Underway (UPDATE)
[Updated on Sept. 15 with additional information.] While EY in the U.S. is continuing to tell people in its tax, risk, and assurance practices that their services are no longer needed, we’ve been told that a second round of layoffs has begun in Canada, particularly in Ontario. A source said: Another round of firings has […]
An Open Letter to EY Management
Ed note: An EY employee who wished to remain anonymous asked us to post this letter to EY management regarding the recent layoffs at the firm because “management tends to ignore our questions when we raise them internally.” Here is the letter: Integrity and honesty are the foundations of public accounting. With great trust, the […]
EY Won’t Let a Mere 2.3% Increase In FY 2020 Global Revenue Ruin Its Thursday
The second contestant in the Big 4 global revenue pissing match came out with its FY 2020 financial results today, and EY continued to exert its dominance of third place. The Black and Yellow announced global revenue of $37.2 billion for the fiscal year that ended June 30, a 2.3% increase in U.S. currency terms […]
Promotion Watch ’20: EY Canada Adds 20 New Partners and Principals
Because we recognized the newest partner classes at PwC Canada (under somewhat shady circumstances) in July and Deloitte Canada yesterday, we thought we’d do the same for the brand-new rainmakers at EY Canada. EY’s new partner/principal class is the smallest of the three firms, coming in at 20. Here are a couple other stats of […]
Promotion Watch ’20: EY Adds 133 New Partners and Principals In the U.S.
Thanks to one of our friends at EY, we got our hands on a spreadsheet that lists the names and locations of the 600 newest partners and principals at the House of Di Sibio. Of those 600, 133 are based in the good ol’ US of A. Here’s a look at the class of 2020 […]
EY Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Part II
Dan Dennett announced to his LinkedIn connections about a month ago that he recently joined the black and yellow team. And here is his WFH battlestation:The newish EY associate partner is the focus of today’s edition of “Big 4-on-Big 4 Poaching From Around the World.” Dennett joins the Queen’s EY from PwC U.K. where he […]
Deloitte Poaches Someone From EY and Issues a Press Release, Part II
For today’s edition of “Big 4-on-Big 4 Poaching From Around the World,” we’re heading to Paris where Monitor Deloitte (Green Dotters who specialize in strategery) landed a new partner from its black and yellow rivals. Fabien Delon, 49, graduated from Sciences Po Paris and holds a DEA in Finance from the same school. He has 25 years […]
EY Being Blamed by Butthurt Hockey Fans for New York Rangers Getting #1 NHL Draft Pick
Last night the NHL held its 2020 draft lottery, when the eight teams that lost in their respective Stanley Cup Playoffs play-in series—Edmonton Oilers, Florida Panthers, Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Winnipeg Jets—each had a 12.5% chance to get the No. 1 pick, presumably 18-year-old Canadian major […]
Layoff Watch ’20: Hearing EY Mexico Is Cutting People and Pay (UPDATE)
[Updated on Aug. 10 with additional information.] We heard from another EY employee in Mexico who told us over the weekend that the situation at the firm is “worse than you may imagine.” This person said that the leadership at EY Mexico has allegedly given employees an ultimatum: accept a 15% pay cut by this […]
Wirecard Drama of the Day: At Least This Wasn’t EY’s Fault
According to a report cited by Bloomberg, a former Wirecard manager who was found dead in the Philippines last week died of blood poisoning in a Manila hospital. Bloomberg wrote: Authorities in the Philippines have yet to confirm that the man, Christopher Bauer, is the former Asian executive of the payments firm who is part […]
Wirecard Drama of the Day: Germany’s Audit Cops Are Trying to Dig Up Some Dirt on EY
So sayeth Reuters: The German body in charge of regulating auditors is examining the work of EY, the auditor that approved the books of collapsed payment services firm Wirecard, the German Economy Ministry said on Monday. The ministry said Auditors’ Regulator (Apas) had upgraded a preliminary investigation that had been running since October 2019, when […]
EY U.K. Got Slightly Worse at Auditing This Year, According to Latest FRC Inspection Report
Next up in the parade of 2019-20 Financial Reporting Council audit quality inspection reports is the black and yellow float of EY U.K. In the most recent inspection cycle, EY had a smaller audit sample size than Deloitte, PwC, and KPMG, and that was probably a good thing. The FRC noted in its EY report: […]
Comp Watch ’20: EYers Who Are Not Getting a Promotion Probably Are Not Happy Right Now
This delicious-looking sundae is the promotion bonus at EY in 2020. An EY all-hands webcast was held earlier this afternoon, and a lot of topics were apparently discussed, including raises … or a lack thereof, according to a source: No raises this year. Only those getting promoted will get the promotion portion of the raises. […]
EY Poaches Someone From KPMG and (Not Yet) Issues a Press Release, Part II
In the About section of his LinkedIn profile, Charlie Simpson simply put down, “Delighted to have joined EY Parthenon to help grow our Advanced Mobility and Manufacturing business across Europe and globally.” It’s Simpson’s move to EY-P, the strategic consultancy located in the boiler room of the EY Global Battleship, that is the focus of today’s […]
Grant Thornton Poaches Someone From EY and Issues a Press Release, Part I
While public accounting firms in the U.S. are registering about zero on the competitive poaching Richter scale these days, the bigger firms in the U.K. continue to shake things up. Take Grant Thornton, for example. Dan Dickinson, GT’s newest partner in its tax practice, is an EY refugee. From a press release seen by the […]
EY Still Atop Public Company Audit Client Leaderboard
EY having the most public company audit clients in 2020 isn’t really the biggest news coming out of Audit Analytics’ latest analysis of public company auditors because the Black and Yellow has led each of the past half-dozen years. The bigger news is there’s a different Big 4 firm occupying second place. While EY has […]
EY’s Care Kit for Employees Does Not Include Pancake or Waffle Mix
But the care kit EYers received for their eventual return to the office does include reusable cloth masks, hand sanitizer, and a forehead thermometer (not pictured below). The source who sent us the photo, whose spouse works for EY, called the care kit “a legit, nice, late gesture from Uncle Ernie” and added that the […]
EY Partners Told How to EYsplain Wirecard Mess to Clients
The Financial Times reported on Monday: EY has told its partners how to prepare for difficult conversations with clients about its audits of Wirecard, the German payments company that has filed for insolvency after admitting that €1.9bn of cash probably never existed. In an internal note to senior partners on Friday, EY advised them to tell […]
Layoff Watch ’20: EY Is Cutting Ties with Nearly 100 Employees In Israel
Today is New Year’s Eve Eve in the Ernstiverse, and with the 2021 fiscal year starting on Wednesday—and with COVID-19 not going away anytime soon—we’ve been told that quite a few EYers in the U.S. will be shown the door soon. Rumors have been swirling for a while now—from 300 of the 3,600 (8.3%) U.S. […]
EY Poaches Someone From KPMG and Issues a Press Release, Part I
We’re going back to the U.K. for today’s edition of “Big 4-on-Big 4 Poaching From Around the World,” where private equity specialist Jo Taylor is moving up from No. 4 to No. 3 in the Big 4 rankings. From a press release seen by the website TheBusinessDesk.com: EY’s transaction tax team in Manchester continues to […]
Ex-EY Partner Karen Ward Dealt Setback In NY Federal Court
Law360 has the latest on Karen Ward, the former head of real estate investment banking at EY, who asked a Manhattan federal court last July to invalidate the arbitration agreement she signed several years ago that has prevented her from suing EY over claims she was a victim of sexual harassment, gender discrimination, and retaliation, […]
EY Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Part I
Today’s edition of “Big 4-on-Big 4 Poaching From Around the World” takes us to Romania, where EY has put everyone in that country on notice now that it just hired a tax specialist away from PwC and made her a partner. Georgiana Iancu now has a seat at the adult table: [Translated to English] Georgiana Iancu […]
EY’s Auditing Is Not As Sad As It Used to Be, Per 2018 PCAOB Inspection Report
It’s kinda sad, really, that we don’t bat an eye when the top audit firms in the world, the ones that are supposed to be the gold standard of the profession, still significantly screw up one-fourth of their audits of public companies that are inspected by the PCAOB. Why? Because the number of audits with […]
EY Netherlands to Partners: Umm, Please Give Us Some Capital
EY Netherlands partners are answering the call to help pad the Dutch firm’s coffers because business kinda sucks right now due to the Rona pandemic. Bloomberg reported earlier this week: EY’s Dutch unit is asking its partners in the Netherlands to stump up funding to help it confront the blow to its business from Covid-19 […]
EY Announces a Three-Phase Plan For Staff to Return to the Office Once This Corona Thing Settles Down
In a firm-wide all-hands call yesterday, EY revealed its plan to return to some semblance of normal work at the same time state governments are considering lifting lockdown restrictions and allowing some non-essential businesses to reopen. Get excited, people, there is in fact a light at the end of this tunnel, dim as it may […]
EY U.K. Is Waiting to Get Called to the Principal’s Office
I remember being deathly afraid of getting into trouble in elementary school because if you were called to the principal’s office, chances are you would get a swat or two on the buttocks from his spanking paddle. Well the U.K.’s Financial Reporting Council has taken its paddle out of the drawer, put it on the […]
Layoff Watch ’20: Is There Trouble Brewing at EY Canada?
Things are starting to look a little ominous at EY in Canada, as we were told the specter of layoffs looms if EYers don’t volunteer to cut their billable hours. According to a tip we received on April 30: Had a call today at EY Canada (Ontario). Partners are saying that unless people start taking […]
Deloitte Poaches Someone From EY and Issues a Press Release, Part I
Unless it’s buried in the archive somewhere, it’s hard to believe that in the almost 11-year history of this website we’ve never done a post about Deloitte poaching someone from EY (although we have pointed out that EY has lurked in Deloitte’s LinkedIn group looking for new warm bodies), but here we are. Because there […]
Bonus Watch ’20: EY No Longer Giving Out Senior Manager Promotion Bonuses
There was a lot discussed during an EY Americas all-hands webcast this morning, including updates on layoffs and permanent and temporary cost-cutting measures. So, let’s get right to it. 1. No layoffs through the end of June: Back in late March, EY US Chair Kelly Grier said keeping all EYers employed during the COVID-19 pandemic […]
Ex-EY CEO Mark Weinberger Joined His Gazillionth Board of Directors
OK, I might have gotten a little carried away with the title of this post, but it seems like former EY Global Chairman and CEO Mark Weinberger is being appointed to some kind of corporate board or advisory position every month. The latest addition to his resume is a seat on the board of Saudi […]
Congrats to EY and Deloitte For Making … the Vault Banking 50?
The other night I was bored to tears while my wife and my 13-year-old daughter were watching The Vampire Diaries on Netflix. So I poured myself a beer and hopped on to Vault’s website to see if they released their newest Accounting 50 rankings yet, as they usually do in April. They had not. It’ll […]
Bonus Watch ’20: EY Employees Aren’t Getting Performance-Based Bonuses, But Their Jobs Are Safe For Now
Checked in with two sources this afternoon who confirmed what I saw posted on Fishbowl yesterday: no performance-based bonuses at EY this fiscal year, but that decision was made in order to prevent layoffs during the COVID-19 pandemic. One source told me: That’s what we heard on the webcast yesterday. I think everyone appreciated that […]
KPMG Poaches Someone From EY and Issues a Press Release, Parts I, II, and III
With nearly all of the top public accounting firms in the U.S. closing their offices and sending their staffs home to work for the time being because of the COVID-19 pandemic, hiring has pretty much come to a standstill. But over the course of a few months before all of this happened, KPMG hired a […]
Another EY Employee In the U.S. Has Come Down with Coronavirus
According to an internal email sent yesterday to EY employees in the Washington, DC area, there’s been another confirmed case of COVID-19 among the firm’s ranks, this time in Virginia. A tipster passed along the email to us, which was sent by Richard Jeanneret, Americas vice chair and US-East region managing partner, and Kevin Virostek, […]
EY, PwC Jumping On the Mandatory Work-From-Home Bandwagon Due to COVID-19
Thanks to a tipster, here’s the email EY U.S. Chair Kelly Grier sent to all EYers Sunday evening regarding where they’ll be working for the foreseeable future: I’m reaching out this evening to express my recognition and concern for the evolving situation involving COVID-19 and the complexity and uncertainty it’s causing across our daily lives. […]
COVID-19 Is In EY NYC Offices
From the tipline (thanks, tipster!) we have this email that went out to EY staff this afternoon. Last we heard there was a KPMG employee affected in Northern Virginia who visited EY offices but this is new. Dear all Tri-state EY people, There has been a confirmed case of coronavirus (COVID-19) with an EY employee […]