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Trouble at EY after the accounting firms failed split. Plus, House Republicans unveiled legislation to raise the US debt ceiling, and why your 401K could soon look a bit more like a pension.

The addition of annuities, I think, is significant. It's going to be a slow trend. Everything in the 401K world moves pretty slowly.

But I think that this will be a growing trend to watch.

It's Thursday, April 20th. I'm Luke Vargas with the Wall Street Journal, and here is the AM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories moving your world today.

Accounting giant Ernst & Young is facing slowing growth after its $600 million effort to break up its auditing and consulting businesses failed.

That is, according to internal call recordings that were reviewed by the Wall Street Journal.

Employees are reportedly angry ahead of potential cost cuts and lower bonuses, but that might be the least of it. As the outlook for EY's business of charging for advice and accounting is getting weaker in the US by the month.

And journal markets reporter Chelsea Delaney joins me now with more on the situation at the Big Four accountant.

Chelsea unpacked for us the problems that EY is facing here.

Well, it's really a growing list. EY has been very much in the spotlight this month after it abandoned this year long effort to split up its consulting and auditing businesses.

It's announced thousands of job cuts, and it's now warning that its business is slowing too.

And some recent calls, leaders of the business have said that employees need to be prepared. Cost cuts are coming.

And some of EY's core businesses like advising on deals, private equity deals. That business has very much stalled because the economy is slowing.

So a spokesperson woman did tell the Wall Street Journal that EY is seeing double digit revenue growth still, but that is slowing and they're going to need to find places to cut costs.

Okay, so maybe there are some macroeconomic pressures that EY is facing here. And yet it is this failed split that seems to have only made things worse.

Yeah, EY's leaders have tried to stress that the current business struggles and the collapse of the separation plan are completely separate issues.

Employees have been a bit skeptical of that internally. EY leaders have estimated that they spent around $600 million on that plan.

And though about two thirds of that cost has been offset by deferred or delayed projects, they are now saying that they plan to borrow about $300 million from banks to offset some of those deal expenses.

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