Carmine Di Sibio

For months, Ernst & Young’s top leaders characterized their planned breakup of the firm as almost inevitable. All that was left were some adjustments around the edges and votes by partners in dozens of countries.They missed a brewing revolt at the firm’s biggest operation, where EY’s top leader and the architect of the breakup had deep ties. A handful of U.S. partners, prodded by a vocal group of EY retirees, scuttled the deal. EY on Tuesday abandoned its plan to break up the 390,000-person firm into separate…

Ernst & Young’s breakup plan is in jeopardy and the accounting firm’s leaders are trying to salvage the deal by placating restive U.S. partners without pushing its overseas executives too far, people familiar with the matter said.The Big Four accounting firm has suffered a series of delays in its plan to split its global auditing and consulting businesses. Now, top executives are considering several backup options, including selling off just the non-U. S. consulting operation, likely to a private-equity buyer, the…

Ernst & Young’s leaders are looking at backup plans for the firm’s split to address rising funding costs and a potential slowdown in growth that could imperil the rich payouts promised to partners, according to people familiar with the matter. Leaders of the accounting powerhouse are talking to private-equity firms as they draw up plans for the sale of EY’s consulting arm, the people familiar with the matter said. Options include using private debt, which would involve private-equity funds in an…

Ernst & Young’s tax experts bring in lots of cash and are highly valued by the firm’s clients. Many members of the 70,000 strong group don’t know where they will be working next year, or if they will be competing against each other.The proposed breakup of EY into a steady firm focused on auditing companies and a faster-growing consulting business has reached the nitty-gritty phase after its top executives approved the split. More than any other large group at the firm, the tax team will be dismembered in the split.…

Ernst & Young’s leaders fired the starting gun Thursday on a monthslong plan to split its consulting and auditing businesses, in a radical move that will generate windfalls for the firm’s partners and could upend the business model for accounting firms.“This is something that will change the industry,” Carmine Di Sibio, EY’s global chairman and chief executive, said in an interview. Rivals beg to differ. Deloitte, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers have all said they plan to keep consulting…

Ernst & Young’s leaders, trying to persuade partners to split up the firm, said windfalls would be spread evenly, but a bear market threatens to cut the value of a potential initial public offering of its consulting business, according to an internal webcast and people familiar with the matter.Speaking to EY’s roughly 13,000 partners Monday, Global Chairman and Chief Executive Carmine Di Sibio said that the firm would give all partners in a country the same multiple of pay, according…