Ernst & Young divides world into five regions
Big Four accounting firm Ernst & Young announced its largest ever restructuring yesterday, dividing its global operations into five regions in a bid to enhance integration and development with a focus.
The five regions are North America, Europe, the Far East, Australasia and Japan.
David Sun Tak-kei, E&Y China chairman, will become the Far East regional chairman and managing director when the new structure takes effect on July 1. In the region, the firm has 700 partners and 20,000 staff in 15 markets.
'This will foster each region's development in a more flexible way,' Mr Sun told White Collar.
'The new structure will enable E&Y operations to become more integrated and respond to market demand in a faster way. For example, if we find a project in China that needs more accountants with Chinese-language skills or any particular knowledge, we can check if we have the talent in our Singapore or Malaysia units and to do the transfer immediately,' Mr Sun said.
Likewise, when a client wants to acquire overseas assets or needs overseas due diligence, the staff can get a referral from the other regions, he explains.
E&Y has been active in Greater China for many years. It was the auditor for the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which launched the world's then largest initial public offering in 2006.
The Far East now trailed only the United States and Europe in revenue, Mr Sun said.
In Hong Kong and the mainland alone, the firm has a staff of about 8,000. 'We plan to recruit another 1,400 people for China and Hong Kong this year,' he said.
How to compete with Big Four
Steven Parker, the managing director of Jefferson Wells' Hong Kong office, is the guest of this week's video report. He talks about how his company competes with the Big Four accounting firms.
Unlike the Big Four, which offer a wide range of services from external auditing to taxation planning, Jefferson Wells in Hong Kong and Asia focuses on helping the financial services sector to improve internal control, corporate governance and risk management. 'This ensures we don't have any conflict of interest as we do not act as external auditors for the companies,' Mr Parker said.
