Accountancy firm PwC defies the pandemic with soaring profits

Britain’s biggest accountancy firm PwC has seen its profits surge over the past year thanks to the boom in deals.

Partners will receive an average payment of £818,000 for the year to the end of June, plus a sum of around £50,000 relating to one-off items, including the sale of its tech platform.

That was up from £685,000 in 2021 and a pre-Covid £765,000 in 2019. Profit for the financial year rose 25 per cent, to £1.17billion.

Partners at PWC will receive an average payment of £818,000 for the year to the end of June, plus a sum of around £50,000 relating to one-off items, including the sale of its tech platform

Just under 940 of PwC’s 22,000 staff in the UK have achieved the coveted status of partner. Their individual rewards vary widely according to their seniority, performance and how much business they bring in.

The firm, led by senior partner and chairman Kevin Ellis, also paid out more in rewards to other staff. Its UK bonus pot was increased to a record £128million, from £113million before the virus struck, plus an extra week’s pay in May. 

PwC continued to hire throughout the pandemic and the lockdowns, taking on 3,300 new joiners.

The performance was fuelled by strong growth in deals revenue, which rose by 9 per cent to £854million. 

The UK has seen record takeovers and mergers so far this year, leading to rising demand for professional services and advice.

‘It is a deals-led recovery,’ said Ellis. ‘The deal level is mind-blowing.’

Buoyant demand for professional services is likely to continue, driven by deal-making. Firms are also seeking advice as they move faster towards digitisation due to the pandemic and as they try to address climate change.

Many are recalibrating their business models as ‘just-in-time’ supply chains, based on low-cost international sourcing, have come under strain because of Covid. 

‘Like our clients, we see the pandemic recovery as a catalyst of profound change, driving increased demand for our deals, financing, digitisation, ESG and supply chain transformation services,’ said Ellis.

He added that the UK needs to embark on a ‘massive retraining exercise’ involving government, the education sector and businesses, to ensure workers have the skills they need for the economy of the future.

Ellis last month sparked a national debate on working from home after he told the Daily Mail being away from the office too much will blight the careers of young professionals as they will miss out on camaraderie and the opportunity to learn from their seniors.

Rishi Sunak weighed in by saying he doubted he would have done so well if he had begun is working life from home, using Teams or Zoom.

The Chancellor added that it is ‘valuable’ for young people in particular to be physically in the office.

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk