Ernst Young merges all Irish units

ACCOUNTING GROUP Ernst Young has formed an all-Ireland practice through the merger of its units in the Republic and the North as part of a big revamp of its international operations.

The change, effective from July, comes as Ernst Young merges its operations in 45 European countries into a single partnership.

This, in turn, will be managed as one unit alongside its operations in another 42 countries in the Middle East, India and Africa.

This enlarged entity, managed from London, will have annual revenues of $11.2 billion (€7.18 billion).

If it achieves the 27 per cent operating profit margin seen last year at Ernst Young’s British unit, day-to-day annual profits would amount to €1.94 billion.

Paul Smith, managing partner of Ernst Young in Dublin, will lead the all-Ireland practice. His counterpart in Belfast, Mike McKerr, will be markets leader.

The Dublin unit, with 45 partners, had revenues of €138 million in 2007. Profits are not disclosed. Revenues in Belfast, which has seven partners, are not disclosed.

Mr Smith said Irish partners were “neither getting money nor paying money” in the reorganisation and said there was no transaction per se to effect the change.

However, he said “we wouldn’t be doing this merger if we thought we weren’t going to make more money”.

The aim was to deliver a “seamless, consistent” service to clients, no matter where they do business with the group, he said.

Mr McKerr said the all-Ireland approach mirrored the structure of its clients’ operations.