The former Ey and PWC presidents launched the UK boutique targeting the four major customers

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The former Ey and PWC operations company launches a competing accounting and consultant with support from private stocks, pledging to exfoliate customers and British partners from Big Four.

The new project, the advisory unit, began quietly in employment to launch expected by June, headed by Steve Farley, who Ey ran for nine years until 2020. The boutique consulting company will support up to $ 300 million from Warburg PINCUS, the Special Stock Group.

The CEO of Unity will be Marisa Thomas, who was one of the senior executives in the UK in PWC until last year, when it was transferred to the role of a major partner. The company left in February.

The husband displays his new project as an alternative to the four adults that she can offer Tax and accounting servicesTechnological consultations, integration processes and advice for acquisitions to senior financial officials in the United Kingdom, with no conflict of interest worries their previous companies. UNITY will not have audits, which often complain of Big Four partners who complain of heavy organizational scrutiny and can link them to complex compliance procedures.

“The financial manager is open to submit a new proposal,” Farley told the Financial Times. “The four adults are a sophisticated group of service providers, but people are looking for a proposal focusing on the customer, and it has a really low administrative cost, and artificial intelligence is led them instead of relying on old infrastructure, and the absence of conflicts.”

Warburg Pincus’s support is $ 300 million to build the company confirms the increasing impact of Financial investors in the professional services sector It was dominated by the partner’s business models.

Grant Thornton UK last year He sold the majority share To the Cinven Special Stock Group, after a wave of similar deals for accounting companies abroad. In 2019, Warburg Pinkos supported the veteran insurance broker Steve McGil in establishing a specialized insurance company for risks.

“Partnerships have a lot of advantages, but one of the things they do not do is medium to long -term investment,” said Farley.

He left EY at the end of 2023 and is the head of the DWF FIRM group, who also has the support of private stocks. Thomas spent 31 years in PWC, running her advisory work for integration and purchases in the UK and her tax unit before she became head of operations. It was raised widely internally as a competitor to the first partner’s role that went last year to Marco Amitrano, but she failed to reach The brief list of candidates It was placed to vote the partner.

Thomas said that the unit will rent employees with Big Four experience, including those who have left these companies for jobs in the industry, and targeting medium-sized companies with revenues in the range of 500 million pounds-1.5 billion pounds, especially those supported by private stocks.

She said that the low central cost base of the new company and the absence of auditing customers will allow “different fees models”, such as a greater percentage of performance based or “sharing value” from advice on efficiency gains.

The unit will be “a new type of platform that challenges the current situation in how to serve the financial and financing teams”, and that there is a “great opportunity in the market to disrupt.”