‘Frustration and chaos’: EY fights to save Project Everest after US rebellion

After EY launched its plan to separate out its consulting business last year, partners boasted it had worked on three-quarters of recent US corporate spinouts, had 19 under way at the time and that “Project Everest”, as the plan was known, was just number 20.

On paper then, it was an old hand, so the problems with Everest that exploded into the open this week are a worry for the Big Four firm. The threat is not just to the reputation of EY’s deal advisers but to that of the wider business, which advises governments and companies around the world on strategy and governance.