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The firm announced that its global executive and the global advisory council approved the proposed integration into a new EMEIA Area.

It also confirmed that more than 700 partners in the Far East had supported a similar integration across 15 countries and territories.

The EMEIA Area will operate as a single unit, led by a single executive team and, where allowed by laws and regulations, be underscored by formal combinations of practices.

The new Area will be a $11.2 billion organisation with more than 60,000 people. The 3,300 partners of EMEIA will vote on the integration by the end of May. The new EMEIA Area will be effective from 1 July 2008.

The integration of the Far East Area creates a US$1.2 billion organization, with more than 20,000 people. The new structure will also be effective from 1 July 2008.

Mark Otty, currently the head of Ernst & Young’s UK practice, has been nominated to be the EMEIA area managing partner, while David Sun and Jim Hassett were confirmed as Far East co-area managing partners.

Ernst & Young announced the integration of the 29 countries of its Americas practices in 2006.

Chairman and CEO Jim Turley said that the reorganisation reflected the increasingly global nature of the firm’s borderless business environment and added that this was changing the expectations of both its clients and its people.

Chief operating officer John Ferraro said, “Feedback from our clients and the market tells us that this is the right approach. These latest developments in Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa, and in the Far East, will significantly strengthen our business, and allow us to best serve our clients in the global economy.”

Turley added, “Our clients want us to mirror the way they behave in these markets and to have access to bigger and more experienced teams. Our people want and expect us to operate across borders and cultures with the increased client experience, career diversity and mobility that will bring.”

“These are significant developments that reflect the fact that our world is changing rapidly and increasingly acts without boundaries,” Turley concluded.

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