Ernst & Young announced Monday that Mark Weinberger will step down as CEO and global chairman of the Big Four accounting firm next July.
Weinberger has led Ernst & Young since 2013, the same year it rebranded itself under the name “EY.” The company said it plans to appoint his successor “sometime in January.” Weinberger will stay at the firm through the end of 2019 to help manage a smooth transition.
In a letter to employees, published by accounting blog Going Concern, Weinberger said that his departure came as the strategic initiative that he oversaw, titled Vision 2020, was drawing to a close. “EY and indeed the world has gone through tremendous changes during my tenure,” Weinberger said. “Stepping down at the beginning of our financial year 2020 seems like the appropriate moment.”
Under Weinberger’s term, EY has worked to create a more diverse and inclusive workplace. The company has steadily appeared on Fortune’s list of the 100 best companies to work for, weighing in at No. 52 this year.
Weinberger also struggled with the aftermath of several scandals involving Ernst & Young during the financial crisis a decade ago. In 2015, Japanese regulators fined its Japan affiliate $17.4 million over a 2008 audit of Toshiba’s accounts that failed to spot irregularities. That year, the company also paid $10 million to settle a New York lawsuit accusing the firm of helping Lehman Brothers deceive investors before that bank’s collapse.
In 2016, EY also paid a $9.3 million fine to settle the SEC’s charges against three partners for developing personal relationships with clients, in violation of auditor independence rules, between 2012 and 2015.
