When information broke final 12 months that EY was planning to separate its companies, it was seen as a transfer that would reshape the accounting trade. The daring plan was given an equally grand identify, “Project Everest”. But after months of negotiations from throughout the agency, and regardless of the help of the worldwide management, the plan lately fell aside. FT’s US accounting editor Stephen Foley and accountancy correspondent Michael O’Dwyer clarify why that shakeup didn’t occur.

For additional studying:

EY dangers paralysis and an influence vacuum after break-up failure

Julie Boland: the EY chief in the course of a ‘civil war’

EY to chop 3,000 jobs in US to remove ‘overcapacity’

EY: embarrassing climbdown calls future technique into query

On Twitter, observe Stephen Foley (@stephenfoley) and Michael O’Dwyer (@_MODwyer)

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com