(Adds details, background)
March 8 (Reuters) - EY's plan to separate its auditing
and consulting businesses is likely to be paused after a meeting
among its partners in New York, The Times reported on Wednesday
citing senior partners at the Big Four firm.
The Big Four accounting firms, comprising EY, Deloitte, KPMG
and PricewaterhouseCoopers, have been under regulatory scanner
for years over concerns the companies' advisory services could
undermine their ability to conduct independent reviews.
The partners in the meeting were informed the process would
be paused to resolve issues among various teams as specialist
teams tried to resolve issues amongst different factions, the
report added.
EY did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for
comment on the report.
The development comes after expectations of mass approval
for its long-discussed plan to spin off the consulting division
by the end of the year, with a partners' vote on the subject
still due in April.
If ratified by the partners, the company's split would mark
the biggest shake-up in the sector since the 2002 collapse of
Arthur Andersen, the auditor that was mired in the Enron scandal
and whose downfall reduced the "Big Five" to "Big Four".
(Reporting by Anirban Chakroborti in Bengaluru; Editing by
Krishna Chandra Eluri)
