With 24-hour news channels and social media providing us with a constant and ever-expanding stream of information, it’s easy to be distracted, even overwhelmed, by information about day-to-day events.

But many of the day-to-day events that we see and read about are caused by underlying trends that are more important, yet more slowly moving and less newsworthy, than the latest breaking story. I believe that the individuals and organizations that succeed over the long term focus on those underlying trends — on the signal rather than the noise. In my view, the two most important trends shaping our world today are changing demographics and shifts in capital from North to South and from West to East.

These trends continue to send shockwaves through international relations, through the global economy, through the business world overall, and through our profession specifically. The recent global downturn has amplified and accelerated these effects. Regulation, technology and increased volatility are also playing their parts.

Over the past decade, in our profession we’ve seen the Big Four accountants move almost in lockstep in terms of their growth and their strategies. Over the next decade, this may change. These organizations are now pursuing different strategies and, coupled with competition from niche players, we may be coming to a time where the Big Four is no longer an applicable label for the largest, but increasingly different, professional services organizations.

At Ernst & Young, we are keenly aware of underlying trends and this shapes our focus. We are focused on providing assurance and aligned services that truly fit together — in our eyes, in the eyes of our clients and in the eyes of our regulators. This allows us to remain true to our important role in the world’s capital markets, even as the world changes. We are focused on continuing to improve what is already the most globally integrated organization in our field. This allows us to provide our services consistently around the world, because our clients today operate across the interconnected global economy. And in today’s increasingly complex world, we are focused on our people — on building strong networks among the people who work here, who have worked here and who will work here. Our aim is to have the best people to provide our clients with the best service wherever they do business.

This focus serves us well, and our 2011 financial year saw our best performance since before the financial crisis. But more importantly, our focus reinforces our confidence in the leading role we play in the world’s capital markets, in our profession, with our clients and with our people.

Sincerely,

James S. Turley
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Ernst & Young

 

 

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