By Deepak Upadhyay, Mint, New Delhi (TNS)

EY said Tuesday its global chairman and CEO Carmine Di Sibio plans to retire next year after the collapse of his plan to split the Big Four firm in two.

However, Di Sibio made it clear that he did not intend to step down immediately. He would oversee the organization until the end of the next financial year in June 2024.

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The auditing firm said that Di Sibio told partners that “he will retire as global chair and CEO of Ernst & Young, having reached the mandatory retirement age of 60 this March,” reported AFP.

His initial four-year term had been due to expire this month, but EY extended his tenure for two years, allowing him to continue beyond the firm’s retirement age of 60 so he could oversee the split, which he had argued would become a blueprint for the other Big Four firms.

“I am proud of the bold vision we set out in Project Everest,” Di Sibio said in a webcast.

“The courage that we displayed set the entire sector on a new course that will only become apparent in the years to come. We challenged the status quo, we asked tough questions and we were bold in our ambitions. Actions such as these will make us a better organization in the long term. Now it is time to usher in a new generation of leaders,” the EY global chairman said.

EY stopped its “Project Everest” scheme to split its audit and advisory units in April this year after its U.S. branch opposed the move.

The succession process will start in the next few months. The new leader is expected to be named around November.

Di Sibio took over as global chair and chief executive in 2019, having risen through the ranks of EY’s US business serving financial services clients, including Goldman Sachs.

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