Ernst & Young

Ernst & Young Profile & Stats

Although it may be the smallest of the Big Four, Ernst & Young's impressive revenue and clients put the majority of the competition in the shade. Headquartered in the City, E&Y is part of Ernst & Young Global, which has member firms in over 140 countries, and employs upwards of 140,000 people.

A Bit of Background

The primary driving forces behind Ernst & Young, Arthur Young and Alwin Ernst, never met and both died in 1948 – over 40 years before their firms would merge. E&Y’s inception can be traced back to 1903, when brothers Alwin and Theodore established a small public accounting firm in Cleveland named Ernst & Ernst. Shortly after, in 1906, Scotsman Arthur Young established his own accounting firm in Chicago, Arthur Young & Company, with his brother Stanley.

Ernst pioneered the idea that accounting information could be used to implement business decisions and make a difference to clients’ organisations. Young also positioned himself as much a business advisor as an accountant. And after several mergers, (including Young with British firm, Broads Paterson & Co, and Ernst with Whinney Smith & Whinney) Ernst & Young was finally created in 1989. During the rapid years of globalisation, the new organisation quickly positioned itself as one of the leading accountancy firms focusing particularly on new business technologies and continuous business change.

Following the Enron scandal, accounting firms were prohibited from simultaneously providing both audit and professional advice. Inevitably, with the latter being the more lucrative, the other Big Four firms relinquished their auditing clients, leaving the path clear for E&Y to pick up the unwanted work. Consequently, 86 of the FTSE 100 firms are now E&Y clients.

A Closer Look at Departments & Practices

E&Y has become an accounting titan through its stalwart advisory, assurance, tax and transactions services. Its assurance department incorporates the provision of information to investors and stakeholders, as well as audit committees; advisory focuses on improving business efficiency and responding to risks; and the tax division helps clients design and implement tax strategies and transactions, including advisory roles on M&A deals. In addition, E&Y offers strategic growth services, advising British companies on how to become market leaders. Due to client demand, E&Y also provides specialist advice in the two maturing sectors of business advisory and risk advisory services.

E&Y’s global network is split into five regions: EMEIA (Europe, Middle East, India and Africa), the Americas, the Far East, Oceania, and Japan. The UK’s confederacy, EMEIA, includes 87 national firms with over 60,000 employees. However, E&Y Global does not perform client work and instead sets international standards, overseeing global policy and consistency of service. The aim of this compound structure is to better cater for an increasingly global clientele who have multinational concerns. Global career mobility is therefore important, with more than half of recent E&Y graduates stating they chose the firm for the opportunities to pursue an international career.