The merger of accountancy firms Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand has received regulatory clearance from the EU and is now due to go ahead from July 1st this year. The managing partner of Price Waterhouse, Mr Donal O'Connor, is to head the merged organisation in Ireland, with Mr Bill Cunningham, now managing partner at Coopers, becoming his deputy and also head of the audit department.

The merger of the two organisations, now expected to clear its final hurdle of approval by partners in each location, will create the biggest accountancy practice in Ireland, with more than 1,100 people in six locations. Speaking yesterday, Mr O'Connor and Mr Cunningham said that plans to merge the two operations were well advanced.

Now that final regulatory approval had been given these can be finalised, as to date both parties would have held off from the sharing of certain sensitive information. They said that the full management structure of the merged organisation had yet to be decided, but would reflect the merging of the two organisations. The merged organisation will, for the time being, operate from the two existing Dublin headquarters in Wilton Place and Georges' Quay, although it will seek a single headquarters building in the medium term.