EY and PwC diverge in the choice of global head

Two of the world’s largest accounting firms, Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers, have chosen global chairmen with very different backgrounds, but tailored to the specific issues they face, from governance issues to slowing revenue growth.

EY last week selected Janet Truncale, 53, head of its Americas financial services business, as its new global president and CEO. Truncale, who went from being an intern at EY to being appointed as the first woman to lead a Big Four firm, is a certified public accountant by training with core auditing, accounting and consulting skills, which will be essential to making moving the firm beyond the abandoned splitting of its consulting and auditing arms into separate businesses.