How do you move long-term value creation from ambition to action?

8 minute read 14 Sep 2021

EY Value Realized: reporting progress on EY’s global impact in 2021.

Authors
Carmine Di Sibio

EY Global Chairman and CEO

Passionate about clients and the power of the global EY organization. Driver of growth and innovation. Relationship builder. Sports fan.

EY Global

Ernst & Young Global Ltd.

8 minute read 14 Sep 2021

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EY Value Realized: Reporting progress on EY’s global impact in 2021. Read the EY Global Chairman and CEO's letter.

At EY, we believe in stakeholder capitalism: that businesses should create value for their clients, employees, suppliers, communities as well as shareholders. We believe that when organizations align their aims with society’s, they will be more valuable and viable in the long-term, and we will all be closer to addressing some of the world’s greatest challenges.

We started this journey in 2018 with the Embankment Project for Inclusive Capitalism (EPIC), a joint initiative with 30 other companies and the Coalition for Inclusive Capitalism, to redefine and measure how companies create value. In 2019 we created NextWave, our purpose-led strategy and ambition to create long-term value for EY clients, people and society. This strategy has been used to catalyze our own transformation agenda. This year we are advancing how we measure and report on the value we create. 

We believe our focus on creating, protecting and measuring long-term value has been critical to purposeful growth, with Building a better working world as our guide. It is through this lens that we conduct audits, provide results, reshape strategy, enable innovation and transformation, and help companies address tax and regulatory requirements. It keeps us focused on developing the services and solutions that help clients deliver better outcomes for their stakeholders; investing in EY people in ways that help them acquire new skills; and giving back to the communities in which we live and work. It keeps us aligned and focused on our stakeholders’ needs during these challenging times, and beyond.

Holding ourselves accountable

As we make long-term commitments – achieving net zero carbon emissions, increasing diversity, equity and inclusiveness in the workforce, and contributing to prosperity in the communities we operate in – measuring improvement and action plan results to achieve these commitments is critical. Only by measuring can we benchmark progress, improve decision-making and accountability, and increase trust.

As a member of the World Economic Forum’s International Business Council (WEF-IBC), EY contributed to the collaborative effort to bring a private-sector voice to the importance of reporting on ESG issues – in a consistent and comparable way – and evolving the way we understand how business creates and protects value today. This initiative has given EY – as well as the many organizations involved in developing and supporting the metrics – the opportunity to show a commitment to a future where business success relies on improved client outcomes, as well as an inclusive, prosperous society, a protected environment, and a healthy, empowered workforce.

Value realized

We are using the WEF-IBC Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics in this year’s report and taking an important step as we seek to integrate ESG performance into EY’s business strategy, along with our seven actions in EY's carbon ambition. It reflects our commitment to continually improve how we operate. It is also a recognition, along with our reporting on the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), of the importance of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). EY continues to be a proud participant in the UNGC, and in this report I reaffirm our commitment toward its Ten Principles.

In the full report, downloadable from this page, you will read about some of the efforts we have made over the last year to support EY people, to make progress on our commitment to a net zero future, to continue our journey toward positively impacting one billion lives through EY Ripples, to continue to foster confidence and trust in the world’s capital markets, and to support EY clients as they transform.

Looking ahead

While this report looks at EY’s efforts over the last year, we are also continually focused on what more we can do. Over the next year organizations will face complex and inter-related challenges – climate; diversity and social equity efforts; improving resilience, trust and transparency in operations; and using technology – data, AI, blockchain – in new, responsible and different ways. These organizations will be reviewing their customer expectations and experiences; acquiring and divesting; and continuing to invest in people and resources. Communities around the world will also look to recover, regroup and adapt.

This is an increasingly dynamic moment and even as we discuss challenges, we see the opportunities ahead. It is a moment that calls for new investment and a determined focus on areas that we believe can catalyze recovery, improve agility and provide purposeful growth. That is why over the next three years we have committed, under NextWave, to an investment of US$10b in the EY organization.

The investment will help further build trust in the capital markets by strengthening audit quality, including technology-driven innovations in risk and audit procedures to detect and prevent fraud. The investment plan includes US$2.5b in technology over the next three years, with a strong focus on AI, data and disruptive technologies. We will also expand EY-Parthenon and sustainability services, and invest to ensure that clients and EY people benefit from leading technology – all backed up by continued strategic acquisitions and the EY ecosystem of world-class alliances.  

We know that there is still more we can do, and together we will continue to Build a better working world.

Carmine Signature

This year’s value realized and what’s next

Click through the four headings below to see how we are measuring value creation across the four pillars of our NextWave strategy.

Training

59 hours

on average per employee

Skills

160,000

EY Badges awarded

First graduating class

25

EY Tech MBA by Hult graduates

Improving gender balance

48%

women in workforce

Improving gender balance at Partner rank

36%

women in partner promotions

Wellbeing

70

Wellbeing programs including focus on mental health

Awards

23

consecutive years in Fortune’s 100 Best Companies To Work For

What’s next?

Skills target

200,000

EY Badges awarded by FY22

EY Tech MBA by Hult graduates

200

by 2022

Reducing emissions

60%

cut in emissions

Water and land use

1st

global use assessments conducted

EY Ripples

20m lives

positively impacted in FY21

Community support

US$119m

invested in communities

Impact entrepreneurship

7,000+

impact entrepreneurs supported to address UN SDGs across 50 countries

Community support

837,000

hours of community service

What’s next?

Sustainability

Net zero

by 2025

Sustainability

100%

renewable energy in EY offices by 2025

EY Ripples

One billion

lives positively impacted by 2030

Assurance

150,000

audits completed globally

Data analysis

1 trillion

lines of financial data analyzed using technology-based solutions

Sustainable Audit Quality

High quality audits

Lowest PCAOB deficiency score of Big 4

Artificial intelligence

116,000+

engagements using AI-enabled products

Cybersecurity

63

cybersecurity centers globally across 150 countries

What’s next?

Investment over next 3 years

US$10b

Focused on audit quality, strategy, technology and people

Global growth

7.3%

measured in US$

Total global revenues

US$40b

Growth in all service lines and Areas

Revenue and growth by service line

Revenue growth by geographical Area

Show resources

  • Download the full report on our global impact | EY Value Realized

Summary

EY’s purpose is Building a better working world. We help to create long-term value for clients, people and society, and to build trust in the capital markets. Enabled by data and technology, over 300,000 diverse people in over 150 countries work together to provide trust through assurance and help clients grow, transform and operate.

EY Value Realized shows how we’re delivering on our purpose, the progress we’re making, the impact of our work in 2021 and what more we’ll do tomorrow as we continue to build a better working world.

About this article

Authors
Carmine Di Sibio

EY Global Chairman and CEO

Passionate about clients and the power of the global EY organization. Driver of growth and innovation. Relationship builder. Sports fan.

EY Global

Ernst & Young Global Ltd.