THE PROFESSIONAL services firm EY reportedly spent hundreds of millions of dollars preparing to split itself into separate audit and advisory companies. Then earlier this month it abruptly. EY is not unique. All of the big four accounting firms - including PwC, KPMG and Deloitte - combine the stodgy, traditional business of audit with a fast-growing, free-wheeling consultancy wing.
On this week’s podcast, hosts Tom Lee-Devlin, Alice Fulwood and Mike Bird ask whether all four firms find themselves stuck in unhappy marriages. Professor Laura Empson of Bayes Business School retells how these audit firms were beguiled by the glamour and big fees of corporate advisory work. Meanwhile, Tom Rodenhauser, managing partner at Kennedy Research Reports, explains why the consulting units have now outgrown their auditing counterparts, and would do well to ditch them and go it alone.
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