LONDON, KYIV, 23 APRIL 2008 – Ernst & Young announces that its Global Executive and the Global Advisory Council approved the proposed integration of all of its 87 country practices in Western and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa into a new EMEIA Area. It also confirmed that more than 700 partners in the Far East had supported a similar integration across 15 countries and territories.

The EMEIA Area will operate as a single unit, led by a single executive team and, where allowed by laws and regulations, be underscored by formal combinations of practices. The new Area will be a US$11.2 billion organization with more than 60,000 people. The 3,300 partners of EMEIA will vote on the integration by the end of May. The new EMEIA Area will be effective from 1 July 2008.

The integration of the Far East Area creates a US$1.2 billion organization, with more than 20,000 people. The new structure will also be effective from 1 July 2008. Mark Otty, currently the head of our UK practice, has been nominated to be the EMEIA Area Managing Partner.

Chairman and CEO Jim Turley said: “Ernst & Young has for years had the most comprehensive and implemented global integration of its practices. The combinations we are announcing now are bold and exciting developments that dramatically further this integration. We are setting a new standard for professional services. Together with the integration of the 29 countries of our Americas practices, which we announced in 2006, we remain the most globally integrated professional services firm.”

Jim Turley added: “The European 8th Directive provides a new regulatory environment to support the closer integration of our European operations, and this has enabled us to accelerate our thinking around our globalization plans. EMEIA integration will have many benefits. Our clients want us to mirror the way they behave in these markets and to have access to bigger and more experienced teams. Our people want and expect us to operate across borders and cultures with the increased client experience, career diversity and mobility that will bring. And we want to improve our operational effectiveness, to improve our capacity to invest in the development of market leading services, as well as in the important emerging markets around the world.”

“In Ukraine, integration of Ernst & Young will have an impact first and foremost on a strategic level, as all 87 countries will streamline their development strategy," said Alexei Kredisov, Country Managing Partner in Ukraine. "Second, our clients will have better access to cross-border teams of specialists with specific industry experience. This is particularly important to companies interested in expanding their business abroad, attracting external borrowings or undertaking an international IPO. And third, our capacity to invest will be improved while our people will have more opportunities for growing and acquiring international experience. We will be the first professional services firm to truly bring an integrated approach to our global practice. In undertaking this bold step, we take the initiative, and the industry will have to respond to this.”

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Natalia Partach 
Ernst & Young PR Specialist 
(044) 490 3000, Natalia.Partach@ua.ey.com

Ernst & Young is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. Worldwide, our 130,000 people are united by our shared values and an unwavering commitment to quality. We make a difference by helping our people, our clients and our wider communities achieve potential.

In Ukraine Ernst & Young established its practice in 1991. Ernst & Young Ukraine now employs more than 500 professionals providing a full range of services to a number of multinational corporations and Ukrainian enterprises. For more information, please visit www.ey.com/ukraine.