EY picks Anna Anthony as UK boss after three-way race

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EY has appointed financial services boss Anna Anthony as its new UK managing partner after a three-way race to lead the Big Four accounting firm’s British and Irish businesses.

Anthony will become the first woman to permanently run a Big Four operation day-to-day in the UK when she takes up her new role in January.

She has been a partner for 16 years and has led EY’s UK financial services division since 2021, where she is responsible for £1bn in annual revenues and about one-quarter of the business’ 20,000 UK staff.

Anthony was chosen after an idiosyncratic selection system overseen by EY’s global bosses, with “soundings” taken from about 200 of the roughly 930 local equity partners.

Anthony will also be responsible for the audit and consulting firm’s Irish operations.

She beat two other shortlisted contenders: Stuart Gregory, managing partner for finance and transformation; and Kath Barrow, assurance managing partner.

Outgoing UK boss Hywel Ball will remain as chair until a successor is found “early in the new year”, EY said.

Ball told colleagues in June that it was time to “hand on the baton” to someone else.

The former auditor, who was paid £3.6mn in the 12 months to 2023, has been UK chair and managing partner since 2020 but the roles are being split in line with the British accounting regulator’s updated audit firm governance code.

Ball was set to be appointed as managing partner only, and not as chair, in 2020 but was handed both roles after eleventh-hour internal wrangling, people familiar with the matter told the Financial Times.

EY has yet to announce its UK results for its most recent financial year but its Big Four rivals PwC and Deloitte have both reported lower profit per partner after a sharp slowdown in revenue growth.

EY has handed smaller pay rises and bonuses to thousands of UK staff and axed a handful of partners in its tax division, as it confronts the market slowdown.

Anthony’s elevation makes her one of the most powerful figures in EY’s global network, which reported revenues of $49.4bn in the 12 months to June 2023.

The UK business is EY’s second-largest operation after the US. It means Anthony will be influential in any decisions over EY’s strategy under new global chair Janet Truncale, who took over after the collapse last year of its high-profile attempt to split the firm’s audit and consulting businesses.

Anthony admitted to partners at the time that she was “disappointed and embarrassed” by the deal’s failure as she announced a significant cost-cutting programme.

Ball said Anthony was “an exceptional leader, with a breadth and depth of experience that makes her an excellent choice as our next regional managing partner”.

Many within EY had hoped that its 2020 leadership race would result in the first woman to lead a Big Four business in the UK. That distinction went to Mary O’Connor in 2021 when KPMG appointed her to lead its UK business, but only on an interim basis.

Separately, private equity group Advent International announced on Monday that it had hired former EY global boss Carmine Di Sibio, mastermind of the failed audit and consulting split.

Di Sibio has been hired as an operating partner to help “identify, source and execute new deals in the business and financial services space”, Advent said.