EY’s Greater China member firms say they won’t take part in firm’s global break-up

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Member firms of Ernst & Young (EY) in the Greater China region will not participate in a global plan by the professional services firm to split its audit and consulting units into two companies, EY Greater China said on Friday.

EY, headquartered in London and one of the Big Four accounting firms, said on Thursday it was planning to spin off its auditing business from consulting units to ease regulatory concerns over potential conflicts of interest.

It said voting on the split would start on a country-by-country basis from late 2022.

EY’s Greater China region covers member firms in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Mongolia. It has more than 22,000 professionals in the region, according to EY’s website.

“In consideration of the business environment and development stage within which EY Greater China Region operates, the decision in respect of the EY Greater China Region member firms…is that we are unable to participate in the separation as proposed by EY global at this juncture,” EY Greater China, which groups the region’s member firms, said in a statement.

“We will maintain the existing organisational structure and continue to offer integrated, multidisciplinary professional client services in Greater China,” it added.

(Reporting by Xie Yu; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)