PwC
PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited[4] is a multinational professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world[5] and is considered one of the Big Four accounting firms, along with Deloitte, EY, and KPMG.[6]
"pwc" redirects here. For other uses, see PWC (disambiguation).PwC
Members have different legal structures; both UK and US firms are limited liability partnerships
1998
(PricewaterhouseCoopers)
1849
(Price Waterhouse)
1854
(Coopers & Lybrand)[1]
London, England, UK
Worldwide
Robert Moritz (Chairman)[2]
364,000 (2023)[3]
PwC firms are in 157 countries, across 742 locations, with 328,000 people.[7] As of 2019, 26% of the workforce was based in the Americas, 26% in Asia, 32% in Western Europe, and 5% in Middle East and Africa.[8] The company's global revenues were US$50.3 billion in FY 2022, of which $18.0 billion was generated by its Assurance practice, $11.6 billion by its Tax and Legal practice and $20.7 billion by its Advisory practice.[9] The firm in its recent actual form was created in 1998 by a merger between two accounting firms: Coopers & Lybrand, and Price Waterhouse.[1] Both firms had histories dating back to the 19th century. The trading name was shortened to PwC in September 2010 as part of a rebranding effort.[10]
The firm has been embroiled in a number of corruption controversies and crime scandals. The firm has on multiple occasions been implicated in tax evasion and tax avoidance practices. The firm has frequently been fined by regulators for performing audits that fail to meet basic auditing standards. Amid Russia's war in Ukraine, PwC has helped Russian oligarchs to hide their wealth and helped to undermine the global sanctions regime on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.[11][12]
The Coopers & Lybrand logo prior to the 1998 merger
The Price Waterhouse logo prior to the 1998 merger
The PricewaterhouseCoopers logo from 1998 to 2010
The PwC logo from 2010 to present
The following are the several logos the company has used through the years. The current PwC logo was introduced in September 2010, when the company changed its trading name from PricewaterhouseCoopers to PwC. It was designed by Wolff Olins.[79][80][81]
Corporate affairs and culture[edit]
The company employs large numbers of young workers, with 80% of their workforce millennials as of 2017.[82] According to PwC, the company uses education to bridge the culture gap between generations.[82] The firm also implements a three-step "Connect-Embed-Improve" plan to promote employee engagement.[83] The company requires senior-level staff to continue to train and learn; PwC also created a social collaboration platform called Spark to enable employees to access course materials and assignments, complete prerequisites and access reinforcement materials.[84]
In 2016, Tim Ryan, PwC's chairman, helped launch the CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion coalition, the largest CEO-driven business commitment to advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace.[85][86][87]
Employees at PwC generally have flexibility in choosing their own working hours provided that senior management deems the arrangement acceptable.[88][89] In 2002, PwC published the accounting profession's first global "Code of Conduct".[90][91] Strategy& and PwC publish Strategy+Business, a print and online business magazine focusing on management issues and corporate strategy.[92] In June 2021, PwC together with Edelman, the company's agency partner, launched a program, The Trust Leadership Institute.[93][94]
PwC developed a ColourBrave Charity Committee, made up of employees from across the organisation, as part of its commitment to continue to build an inclusive culture and address racial disparity. The Committee chose 25 Black-led organisations and civil society organisations to join the PwC Foundation and PwC Social Entrepreneurs Club's existing list of beneficiaries.[95][96]
As of 2021, PwC is the fourth-largest privately owned company in the United States.[97]
Reports on PwC's involvement in the Australian tax scandal revealed an alternate "shadow culture" that operates separately from its public-facing culture. The "shadow culture" prioritizes loyalty to superiors, unquestioning acceptance of the status quo, and a mentality of revenue "growth at all costs", even to the point of rulebreaking.[98]
As of 30 June 2021, PwC had 295,371 employees around the world.[99] The largest percentage of workers are employed in Western Europe, Asia and the Americas.[99] The following shows the number of employees in each region of the world as of FY 2021.[99]
The following shows the number of employees by practice areas.[99]
The following shows the number of employees by level.[99]
Notable firm alumni include:
Official website
Media related to PricewaterhouseCoopers at Wikimedia Commons