EY’S HALT of a plan to split its audit and consulting divisions came as no surprise to some in the industry, given the complexities of such a split and the synergies of the combined group.

But market watchers also noted that conflict-of-interest problems – a motivating factor behind the plan – remain unresolved for the industry.

On Wednesday morning (Apr 12) Singapore time, EY announced in an internal memo to its partners that it was halting work on the plan after resistance from its United States branch.