EY and PwC Diverge in Choice of Global Head

Two of the world’s largest accounting firms, Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers, picked global chairs with starkly different backgrounds but tailored to the specific problems they are facing, from governance issues to slowing revenue growth. 

EY picked Janet Truncale, 53, head of its Americas financial-services business as its new global chair and chief executive last week. Truncale, who rose from being an EY intern to her appointment as the first woman to run a Big Four firm, is a certified public accountant by training with core skills in auditing, accounting and consulting, which will be key to moving the firm beyond the abandoned split of its advisory and audit arms into separate businesses.