Our History
A.C. Ernst and Arthur Young were very different people.
Young, born in Scotland in 1863 and a graduate of Glasgow University, was privileged and soft-spoken. His interest in investments and banking eventually led him to accounting. He migrated to the United States, settled in Chicago and, in 1906, founded Arthur Young & Co.
By contrast, the outgoing Ernst, born in 1881 in the United States, in Cleveland, was basically self-made. Following high school, he worked as a bookkeeper and, four years later in 1903, joined with his brother, Theodore, to start Ernst & Ernst.
Entrepreneurs and Innovators. Ernst pioneered the idea that accounting information could be used to make business decisions - the forerunner of management consulting. He also was the first to advertise professional services.
Young was profoundly interested in the development of young professionals. In the 1920s he originated a staff school; in the 1930s, his firm was the first to recruit from university campuses.
Both firms were quick to enter the global marketplace. As early as 1924, they allied with prominent British firms -Young with Broads Paterson & Co., and Ernst with Whinney Smith & Whinney. In 1979, Ernst's original agreement led to the formation of Ernst & Whinney.
These alliances were the first of many for both firms throughout the world -and they are the roots of the global organization today.
A New Power - Ernst & Young. Ironically, A.C. Ernst and Arthur Young, who never met in life, died within days of each other in 1948.
In 1989, the firms they started combined to create Ernst & Young. The new organization quickly positioned itself on the leading edge of rapid globalization, new business technologies, and continuous business change.
Both A.C. and Arthur have been gone for more than a half-century, but the sum of their legacies - innovation and drive, sensitivity and concern, honesty and trust - form the culture of today's Ernst & Young.
