Two former ‘Big Four’ executives have established Unity Advisory, a new UK accounting and consulting company, aiming to attract British clients and partners from the Big Four, reported the Financial Times.
Backed by up to $300m from private equity group Warburg Pincus, the venture is due to commence operations by June.
Steve Varley, who served as UK chair of EY for nine years until 2020, will chair the company. Marissa Thomas, previously chief operating officer at PwC, will be chief executive, according to the report.
Thomas left PwC in February after being passed over for the role of senior partner.
As reported by the Financial Times, Unity will focus on providing tax and accounting services, technology consulting, and mergers and acquisitions advice.
The company will not offer audit services, positioning itself as a conflict-free alternative to the Big Four and allowing it to avoid the regulatory scrutiny typically associated with audit work.
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By GlobalData“CFOs are open to a new proposition,” Varley told the publication.
“The Big Four are a classy bunch of service providers, but people are looking for a proposition that is super client-centric, has really low administrative cost, is AI-led rather than based on legacy infrastructure and, crucially, has no conflicts.”
Warburg Pincus’ investment highlights the increasing role of financial investors in the professional services sector.
The trend follows similar moves such as Grant Thornton UK’s sale of a majority stake to Cinven.
Warburg Pincus previously supported the creation of an independent speciality risk insurance business in 2019.
Unity’s lower central cost base and the absence of audit clients would allow “different fee models” such as a larger proportion of performance-based fees or “value sharing” from advising on efficiency gains, Thomas said.
David Reis, Warburg Pincus managing director, commented that Unity would be “a new kind of platform that challenges the status quo in how CFOs and finance teams are serviced”, and that there was “substantial market opportunity for disruption”.
