{"text":[[{"start":11.39,"text":"EY has cut staff and imposed greater efficiency across its global operations under chief executive Janet Truncale, according to figures from the Big Four accounting and consulting network."}],[{"start":24.740000000000002,"text":"EY’s global headquarters has levied lower fees from the national member firms that make up the network, making good on a promise to slim down the central bureaucracy after an expensive and ultimately failed attempt to spin off the consulting business."}],[{"start":41.980000000000004,"text":"Annual accounts filed at the UK’s Companies House show that EY’s coordinating body levied $1.8bn from the national member firms in the year to June 27 2025, the same amount as the year before despite a 4 per cent increase in revenue across the network."}],[{"start":63.56,"text":"That meant the so-called global assessment fell to less than 3.5 per cent of member firms’ total revenue, having historically been above 4 per cent before the spin-off’s collapse in 2023."}],[{"start":79.16,"text":"The number of people working directly for the global organisation in the year to June — Truncale’s first year in charge — fell 8 per cent to 964, the accounts also show."}],[{"start":91.91,"text":"EY is structured as a network of locally owned partnerships co-ordinated by a global umbrella body that offers marketing, technology and other help and imposes common standards for auditing and other services. The member firms — notably the largest, the US — have often chafed at the amount of money taken by the global body."}],[{"start":116.25999999999999,"text":"The collapse of the consulting spin-off, dubbed Project Everest, came after a rebellion within the US member firm and revealed the limits of the power of the global organisation, which had promoted the plan."}],[{"start":129.84,"text":"Truncale reset EY’s strategy and promised to restructure the central organisation to promote co-operation between regions and within sectors, eliminating a layer of management and devolving some activities back to member firms."}],[{"start":145.67000000000002,"text":"On top of the global assessment, member firms sent a further $3.2bn in fees to the central body in the last fiscal year in return for services such as shared technology. That figure was down from $3.4bn in the year to June 28 2024, also reflecting the focus on cutting costs, including by finding savings in technology procurement."}],[{"start":173.36,"text":"“EY continues to make strategic and deliberate choices that drive quality and globally connected client services. With continued global revenue growth, these choices are enabling us to create additional investment capacity for technology and big bets such as AI, managed services and sustainability” a spokesperson said."}],[{"start":205.08,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1772412951_9869.mp3"}