Deloitte leadership race reduced to two hopefuls
Martin Eadon and David Sproul fight it out for the leadership of Deloitte
The contest to replace John Connolly as leader of Deloitte in the UK will
involve just two members of the firm’s board.
The contenders vieing for the top job are Martin Eadon, head of audit, and
David Sproul, head of tax. Sproul joined Deloitte when the firm acquired
Andersen in the UK on the back of the Enron crisis.
Both candidates gave presentations at the firm’s partner conference on 6 July
but no further campaigning is expected.
The vote on a leader will take place in November but only a single candidate
chosen by the firm’s leadership will be put before partners for approval.
Between now and the vote the management team will take soundings from the
partners on who is the preferred choice. This will get under way after August.
One insider told Accountancy Age that there was little space between
the two candidates based on their presentations and that both stressed the need
for a focus on developing and recruiting talent as well building a strategy for
competing in a “global” market.
The race sets up a neat contest between audit and tax for the leadership as
well as placing an ex-Andersen staffer in the running. However, insiders say
there are no factions developing around the issue of coming the collapsed
network.
John Connolly is due to step down on the 31st May next year. An early tip to
succeed him was Vince Niblett, also on the executive board. However, he is
understood to have ruled himself out after taking on the role as global head of
audit for the firm.
Deloitte took revenues of £1.96bn in the year to May 2009. It is expected to
produce annual report for 2010 after dropping it last year.
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