EY’s UK boss Hywel Ball triggers leadership race after deciding to step down

EY’s UK boss Hywel Ball plans to step down, triggering a leadership race just as the Big Four firm confronts a market slowdown.

In an email to partners seen by the Financial Times, Ball, who has led the accountancy firm since 2020, told colleagues it was time to “hand on the baton” to someone else.  

As head of the UK firm, the second largest in EY’s global network behind the US, Ball was an influential figure as the firm’s global bosses tried and failed to split its accounting and consulting arms globally. 

The 61-year-old was a strong proponent of the deal, codenamed Project Everest, which would have transformed the business model that has dominated the accounting profession for decades. 

EY’s global boss Carmine Di Sibio, who was the architect of the proposed split, is also set to leave the firm at the end of this month.

In his note to partners, Ball said he would agree a transition plan with his successor but that he did not envisage a lengthy handover period. 

Ball is older than the firm’s usual retirement age of 60 but was handed a second extension to his tenure last year. A person briefed on the decision said at the time that Ball intended to serve the full length of his extension until June 2025. 

“The commitment I made was to navigate the UK business through the uncertainties that came after our separation discussions,” Ball said in the note, adding that the firm had needed to “regroup” after Project Everest was abandoned last year. 

Ball, who has spent 40 years at EY and was paid £3.6mn in 2023, has overseen a period of rapid expansion, with revenues rising from £2.6bn in 2020 to £3.76bn last year. Consultants have cashed in on demand for advice as businesses grappled with changes stemming from the pandemic, net zero targets and artificial intelligence. 

In the past year, he has attempted to stabilise the business after the collapse of Project Everest, slashing the size of its executive team and cutting hundreds of jobs as the industry faces a slowdown in demand for its services. 

In a separate note to all staff, seen by the FT, Ball said the decisions he took to restructure the business were “difficult” and “never easy”.

His exit will kick off a highly political succession process overseen by EY’s international bosses in which several senior partners are likely to jostle for the top job. The UK firm’s 930 equity partners will be consulted on who should be the new senior partner as part of a “soundings” process but will not get a direct vote, according to a person with knowledge of the process.

Ball surprised many colleagues by emerging as a consensus candidate in 2020, according to people with knowledge of that process. 

His role as chair and senior partner is set to be split, meaning a new chair will also need to be selected. The Financial Reporting Council, which regulates UK accounting firms, has been pushing audit firms to have separate executives in the senior partner and chair roles, in line with best practice for UK-listed companies. 

The firm declined to comment on how it would pick the new chair or whether it would seek an external appointee.

Ball signalled that his exit would not mean retirement, saying he was looking forward “to the next stage of my career”.

“As part of the planned leadership transition for Hywel Ball, we can confirm our internal selection process will begin in the second half of 2024,” EY said in a statement.