PwC UK reports revenue and profit growth
PwC UK, the professional services firm, has reported revenue of £3.76bn for the year ended June 2018 30, up 5% from £3.60bn last year, as the firm continues to invest in people and technology across the UK to support its clients.
Profit was £935m, up from £822m last year, and the average distributable profit per partner, before tax, was £712,000, compared with £652,000 in 2017.
Kevin Ellis, PwC UK chairman and senior partner, said: “Despite uncertainty over Brexit, all four of our business divisions grew this year, with high demand for technology-related services, including cyber, data analytics and GDPR.
“Twenty-nine percent of the firm’s revenues came from inbound – organisations headquartered outside the UK – highlighting the importance of the UK as a global business hub.
“Momentum in our business is good, driven by a strong deals market and demand for technology-driven business expertise, as we see organisations turn to us to help them transform their business models, many in response to digital disruption.”
Assurance revenues increased by a solid 3%, consulting revenues were up by 1%, deals grew strongly by 10%, and the tax practice, which includes specialists in areas such as immigration, legal services and pensions, experienced good growth of 7%.
The Middle East practice grew by 15.7% in US dollar terms as client demand remained strong.
Mr Ellis said: “During the year there has been significant scrutiny of our profession and the audit market in particular, with recent commentary highlighting concerns over competition, choice and audit quality.
“We are committed to helping regulators find practical remedies to increase choice and are clear that audit quality must be the top priority.
“This year we settled two Financial Reporting Council investigations (BHS and Tenon) where our work fell below the standards expected of us and that we demand of ourselves.
“Our goal is always to deliver work of the highest calibre. When we get things wrong we put our hands up, learn the necessary lessons and improve our processes.
“Audit remains a fundamental part of the firm and the commitment to continuously improve audit quality is at the forefront of our strategy.
Investment in technology.”
He said: “We are adopting new technologies to ensure our business is efficient and connected for the future.
“We’ve made a step change in our own digital transformation this year with significant investment in cloud-based technologies such as Google for Work, Salesforce, and Workday, as well as continuing to invest in emerging technologies expertise in AI, virtual reality and a drones’ team to build and innovate client services.
“We’ve continued to grow our cyber, data and analytics, and technology risk propositions and developed data visualisation and machine learning tools to enhance the insights we provide to businesses.
“We’ve opened Frontier in London, a creative space to collaborate with clients and bring our emerging technology teams together.
“Our research into the potential economic impact of AI and drones have helped fuel debate on how we harness these technologies responsibly and effectively.”
Mr Ellis added: “We launched a fully-funded tech and data degree apprenticeships at five UK universities – Birmingham, Edinburgh, Leeds, Queens in Belfast, and St Andrews – giving over 100 students per year a traditional university experience while receiving paid on-the-job training.
“Over 60 organisations signed up to the Tech She Can Charter we launched to help ensure more young women can focus on pursuing technology careers.”
Regarding the firm’s workforce, he said: “We are proud that tens of thousands of people applied to work for us this year (104,000), and more than 3,400 school leavers, graduates and experienced professionals joined the firm.
“As a major UK employer we believe our business is stronger for having a diverse workforce. With technological changes having a significant impact on the jobs market it is more crucial than ever that we ensure high skilled and high paid jobs of tomorrow are attainable, regardless of a person’s background.
“We took steps on issues we know matter to our people, extending our Green light to Talk mental health campaign and sponsoring Pride.”
Iwan Griffiths, PwC’s North West regional chairman added: “Investing in our regional footprint is a priority for the firm.
“This year the North West practice moved into its new iconic home at No1 Spinningfields, which has been a truly transformational move.
“The new office reflects our continued investment in the North West and is the most advanced PwC office in the country.
“At the beginning of September we had 74 graduates and 46 school and college leavers start with the firm which also helped us pass a significant landmark of having over 1,000 members of staff based in Manchester.
“This investment will ensure that we have the right skills, increased levels of specialisms and technologies to assist with the challenges facing our clients in the future, whilst creating new and more flexible ways of working bringing together our people and technology to deliver a wider range of integrated services in a way that best suits our clients.”
