Jamie Miller, the global chief financial executive of EY, was appointed in January. He left the accounting firm less than six months later, after the failed plan to spin off its consulting business.
Miller, an experienced finance executive, was lined up as the chief financial officer for the consulting firm if the spinoff went ahead. He had been lured from Cargill by EY, the commodities trading company.
Her June resignation, which was not reported previously, came only weeks after EY canceled the break up.
Miller stated in a press release that he joined EY so as to assist the organization with a particular transaction. Miller said, “Now that the transaction is over, I can pursue other opportunities.” EY has thoughtful leaders, and I’m proud to be a part of their journey.”
EY has spent over a year and more than $600mn on preparing the break-up, which its global leaders claimed would boost growth for both sides of their business. Conflict of interest rules prevent consultants from selling services directly to audit clients. A spin-off could have enabled EY to form lucrative alliances with companies like Google that are currently off limits. The plan failed due to opposition from the leaders of its US audit practice who were concerned that it would become too weak as a stand-alone business.
Miller’s return to public markets as CFO of Cargill Consulting, spun off from General Electric, would have been her third year since she left General Electric and joined the privately-owned Cargill.
She worked at GE for almost 14 years in different finance roles. Her last role was Chief Financial Officer. According to GE proxy statement 2020, in her last year with the company she received $3.5mn as salary and bonus, plus $4.6mn of share awards.
She was an early partner of EY’s competitor, PwC.
Miller stated that joining EY was a “unique chance to be a part of one of the most disrupting strategies in any industry during this decade”.
Carmine Di Sibio, global chief executive of EY, had predicted that the separation of consulting and audit would be adopted by other Big Four firms. EY was taking advantage as a pioneer. PwC’s, Deloitte’s and KPMG’s leaders declared that they did not see any reason to follow suit.
Di Sibio was to be the CEO of a standalone consulting firm. In June, after the failure of the plan, he announced that he was retiring next summer. A six way race has been started to replace him.
Alisdair Man, a vice-chair based in London, has taken over the role of chief financial officer since Miller’s exit.