EY has halted its disbandment plans. The cause: heated discussions between partners in the United States, which accounts for 40% of EY’s global revenue and is also leading the cut plan.

Project Everest, as an internally recognized mega-program (it is considered the most complex split ever seen in business consulting), was put on hold. For a while, according to CEO Carmine Di Sibio.

In a letter to all of EY’s partners in the United States, he said the leadership team still had “high levels” of confidence that the split would continue, even if it was “terminated”.

Di Sibio was forced to send the letter because of the rumblings in the practice of tax advisers (Tax). The main point: who are the tax advisors of the future?

Under the plans now on the table, the vast majority of tax advisers (about 85%) will go with consultants, so they too can advise more freely as they are no longer constrained by regulations prohibiting them from undertaking tax advisor assignments. for EY audit clients.

However, the Audit practice has campaigned in recent weeks to retain a larger share of the Tax practice after the split, an insider told the Financial Times.

Julie Boland, who will lead the Audit unit after the split, requested a break in the plan. He believes that between 20% and 25% of Tax practices should remain with Audit.

During a call last Wednesday, Boland informed partners that the deal would have to be adjusted. He emphasized, however, that he and the rest of the Audit Practice Leadership Summit still support the split.

EY’s Tax Practice employs approximately 70,000 people worldwide. It remains unclear how other large EY member companies, such as the UK, Germany, Canada and France, perceive calls to review unbundling proposals for tax advisers.

An important detail: the way the separation of advice and accounting is regulated differs from country to country. In the US, for example, it is somewhat more liberal, meaning that accounting firms are permitted to provide audit clients with more tax advice than in many other countries. Therefore Boland suggested that the portion of Tax practices to be audited in the US could be higher than the proposed 20 to 25%.

At least 75 countries around the world must agree to the separation. China and Israel have indicated they will vote against it. Dutch managing partner Jeroen Davidson indicated in a recent Dutch EY annual report that he supports the split.