Pricewaterhouse Coopers

PricewaterhouseCoopers also known as PwC is a multinational professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. PwC is the world’s largest professional services firm and is also the largest of the “Big Four” accountancy firms measured by 2012 revenues.

The company has its presence over 771 cities spread across 158 countries and currently employs over 180,000 people.

PwC reported total revenue of $31.5 billion in FY 2012 which is divided among its different line of business as mentioned below:

• $14.9 billion was generated by its Assurance practice
• $7.9 billion by its Tax practice and
• $8.7 billion by its Advisory practice.

Company’s revenue increased by 8.0% to US$ 31.5 billion and for the first time ever PwC’s annual revenues have exceeded US$30 billion.

Formation

The company was formed in 1998 by a merger between Coopers & Lybrand and Price Waterhouse. In September 2010 recently the company got its trading name shortened to PwC which was done as a part of re-branding exercise.

PwC is known to be the fifth-largest privately owned organization in the United States and is currently headed by Chairman Dennis M Nally.

Management Consulting in PwC

After merger, the firm had a large professional consulting branch. Company’s Management Consulting Services (MCS) was the fastest growing and often most profitable area of the practice despite being cyclical in nature.

Company experienced major growth during the late 1990s when the complex integration of ERP systems for multi-national companies was under processing and required experienced consulting. Later, due to several complexities faced by the company – fallout from the Enron, Worldcom and other financial auditing scandals, the company decided to limit the interaction between management consulting and auditing (assurance) services.

Mergers and Acquisitions:

• In 2000, PwC acquired Canada’s largest SAP consulting partner Omnilogic Systems
• In March 2002 Arthur Andersen, LLP affiliates in Hong Kong and China completed talks to join Pricewaterhouse Coopers, China.

In May 2002 the company announced spunning off its consulting activities as an independent entity which led to hiring of a CEO to run the global firm and to create the brand image. These plans were soon revised and in October 2002, PwC sold the entire consultancy business to IBM for approximately $3.9 billion in cash and stock. PwC’s consulting business was absorbed into IBM Global Business Services thus increasing the size and capabilities of IBM’s growing consulting practice. 

Facts about PwC

1. In FY 2012, PwC firms provided services for 422 of the companies in the Fortune Global 500 and 439 of the companies in the FT Global 500, thus making itself one of the largest company to serve maximum multinationals among the top 500 MNCs across the world.
2. PwC was named a leader in business consulting services in the worldwide, Americas, and Europe, Middle East and Africa markets, according to the 2012 IDC Market Scape reports.
3. Company ranked #5 on Diversity Inc’s 2012 Top Companies for Global Diversity list.
4. Received a citation for being a 2012 Employer of Choice for Women thus making the company one of the most favorable and sought after companies to work for, for the women.
5. For the 11th year in a row, PwC Brazil was named The Most Admired Audit Company by Carta Capital/ TNS InterScience.
6. For a record ninth year running, PwC UK was placed #1 in The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers for 2012.
7. Ranked #7 of the World’s Most Attractive Employers by business students in 2012.
8. PwC US made the Fortune 100 Best Places to Work at #48, up 25 places from 2011, and #11 among big employers.
9. PwC UK placed #5 in the Sunday Times Best Big Companies to Work For in the UK – up from 11th in 2011 and the highest of any of the Big Four.

Thus we see that despite several allegations and scandals which were attached to PwC’s name in the past, the company continued to grow substantially thus becoming the largest of the Big 4 companies in the world. The company has also grown considerably in the emerging markets like India and have offices in Gurgaon, Mumbai, Kolkata and many other cities. The company is currently looking at expansion in emerging economy so as to improve on their clientele in these regions.

Also Read about Asset Management Companies in India.

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