PwC’s US boss Tim Ryan to quit as race to lead big four heats up
London/New York | PwC’s US head Tim Ryan has told partners he will leave the big four consulting firm in June, following resistance from some colleagues to his candidacy to succeed Bob Moritz as global chairman.
Mr Ryan, who has chaired the US firm for eight years, had been hotly tipped inside and outside PwC to replace Mr Moritz, whose second four-year term is also due to expire next year.
PwC US chairman Tim Ryan will leave the firm next year.
But partners were told on Friday (Saturday AEDT) that the US boss would leave upon the expiry of his current term, said four people with knowledge of the matter.
The end of his US leadership term was “a natural inflection point for me”, Mr Ryan told PwC US partners in an email. “Having seen so many of the challenges our clients and our society face, I have a strong desire to explore leadership opportunities outside the firm and help in a different way.”
PwC has historically elevated the head of the US firm – by far the largest in its global network – to the global chairmanship and Mr Ryan was expected to be among the final candidates after a longlist of six was drawn up, said people with knowledge of the matter.
Opponents of Mr Ryan included senior partners outside the US, and his exit signals a potential shift in the power dynamics of PwC’s global network of member firms.
His exit throws open the race to lead the global firm from next year.
Candidates include Kande, Stubbings
US head of consulting Mohamed Kande and UK-based Carol Stubbings, who leads PwC’s tax and legal services division globally, were among the strongest candidates to have challenged Mr Ryan to succeed Mr Moritz, according some of the people.
Ms Stubbings was one of the executives flown into Australia by global management earlier this year to help contain the international fallout from a tax scandal that has crippled PwC’s reputation in the country.
PwC International declined to comment on the appointment process for the global chair, which it said was ongoing.
Mr Ryan has been one of the most prominent faces of the accounting profession in the US for almost a decade and chairs the Centre for Audit Quality, which represents the largest firms.
The US business he leads had $US20.7 billion ($33 billion) in revenue in the financial year to June 2022, accounting for 40 per cent of PwC’s global total. Its revenues were $US16 billion in Mr Ryan’s first year in charge.
He also led an internal reorganisation that split the US firm’s audit and advisory businesses, in a move that sparked speculation across the industry that PwC could be preparing for a full break-up – a claim it has denied.
Financial Times
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