EY is on the cusp of being crowned new auditors to Royal Dutch Shell should its shareholders anoint them at the fossil fuel giant’s 2016 Annual General Meeting.
The announcement secures EY’s growing presence in the sector having already bagged the audits of oil and gas giant BP and the BG Group, which it won in 2012, in the UK. BG is set to be acquired by Royal Dutch Shell, which puts the latest audit win into focus.
EY’s gain is PwC’s loss. And it’s a significant $50m (£33m) loss.
A delighted Hywel Ball, EY’s UK head of audit, said: “We are really excited to be proposed as auditors to Royal Dutch Shell’s shareholders at this pivotal moment for the organisation and are proud to have been selected from among the competition.
“Royal Dutch Shell is the largest company by market capitalisation in the UK and our global structure, combined with our wealth of experience in the sector and innovative approach to the audit, helps enable us to advise international businesses of this scale.”
Concluding, Hywel added: “The EU audit rotation rules, while not yet mandatory, are having a big impact on the number of audits coming up for tender. In the first half of this year there have been as many live FTSE 100 audit tenders as in the whole of 2014.”
EY already audits a number of large UK corporates including Royal Bank of Scotland, Sainsbury’s, The London Stock Exchange Group, The Co-operative Bank, and the BBC.
Recent major audits to change hands include Travis Perkins and BAT.