Samuel Di Piazza Jr, the current global chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers, is stepping down at least six months before his tenure ends, making way for Dennis Nally, who now heads PwC, US.

Di Piazza Jr’s premature retirement has raised many an eyebrow in accounting and consulting circles, but PwC refused to call it a premature step-down. In a mailed response to Financial Chronicle, Mike Davies, PwC global director-communications, said, “DiPiazza asked PwC’s global board to begin the process of appointing his successor in November 2008, with the aim of stepping down as global chairman by the end of June 2009. This was entirely DiPiazza’s decision after a 35-year career.”

Dennis is from the PW legacy and a known India expert. He first visited India in 1995, and in 1996 he, with the then PW chairman James J Schiro, initiated the mega-merger between PW and C&L and became the first CEO of the merged company. He left PwC to become the CEO of Zurich Financials, when Sam stepped in.