EY nominates audit leader for US unit

EY’s governing board has nominated Dante D’Egidio, current vice chair of assurance for EY Americas, to be the next head of its US unit, the Wall Street Journal reported.

EY partners still need to vote D’Egidio in. If he gets the spot, he’ll take the reins from Julie Boland, who is retiring next year upon reaching EY’s mandatory retirement age of 60.

D’Egidio, who has worked at EY since 1994, leads around 30,000 people in the firm’s US audit branch. He’s helped EY lower its audit deficiency rate from 46% in 2022 to 28% in 2024 by taking such steps as reducing the number of audit clients it served, introducing more technology, and centralizing support. (From 2022 through 2024, EY had the highest deficiency rate in the Big Four.) The firm predicts its deficiency rate will be below 9% this year, according to the Wall Street Journal.

D’Egidio has also written about EY’s $1 billion plan to shore up the accounting pipeline. The initiative includes higher starting salaries. “Accounting skills are so fundamental to the global economy that accounting graduates deserve early career compensation on par with that of other business degree holders,” he and coauthor Ginnie Carlier, EY Americas vice chair for talent, said in an article a year ago.

EY’s pipeline plan also includes investments in AI and other technologies, a leadership program for early-career accountants, and a program called the EY Career Path Accelerator, which aims to “remove the perceived barriers with the 150-credit-hour requirement” for CPA licensure with offerings such as internships, scholarships, and virtual courses, D’Egidio and Carlier wrote.