Number of employees of EY worldwide by service line 2009-2023

Ernst & Young (EY) employed almost 400,000 people worldwide in 2023, with around 120,000 of those employees working in the assurance service line and 79,000 employed in the tax services sector.

A growing global workforce

Of all the Big Four accounting firms, only Deloitte employed more people worldwide than EY. The firm has continually increased its worldwide workforce since 2010, with the advisory services sector seeing the greatest increase in the number of employees. EY is a global accounting company with employees based in more than 150 countries. In 2023, the largest share of its workforce was based in the geographic area of Europe, the Middle East, India, and Africa (EMEIA).

EY: A brief history

EY was formed following a merger between two of the traditional Big Eight accounting firms in 1989; at the time, the merger created the largest professional services network in the world. Prior to the merger, Ernst and Whinney was the fifth largest accounting firm in the world, while Arthur Young ranked sixth – both had annual revenues of around two billion U.S. dollars. In 2023, EY reported record annual revenue figures of approximately 49 billion U.S. dollars, making it the third largest of the current Big Four accounting firms.