PricewaterhouseCoopers (or PwC) is the world's largest firm of accountants and is an audit and accountancy firm that provides assurance, tax, and advisory services.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (or PwC) is the world's largest firm of accountants and is an audit and accountancy firm that provides assurance, tax, and advisory services. The company primarily operates in Europe and North America and is headquartered in the United States at 1177 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York. The company, which employs about 130,200 people was formed in 1998 from a merger between Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand, both formed in London. It is the third largest privately owned organization in the United States as well as being a Big Four auditor, alongside with KPMG, Ernst & Young and Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.
The legal structure of a limited liability partnership is very different to that of a company, and as such the global firm is in fact a collection of member firms, that are run autonomously in their respective jurisdictions. The senior partners of member firms sit on a global board of partners and there is also an 'umbrella' organization called PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited, a UK -based company which provides co-ordination.
PricewaterhouseCoopers has three main service lines: Audit and Assurance, Tax, and Advisory and Consulting which covers Performance Improvement, Transactions and M&A and Crisis Management in a range of specialist areas such as accountancy and actuarial advisory. PwC's service lines face the market in each country by broad industry specializations such as: Consumer and Industrial Products and Service (CIPS), Financial Services (FS), Technology, Information, Communications and Entertainment (TICE), and Government & Public Sector (G&PS)
PricewaterhouseCoopers is extremely well placed which also helps clients meet the challenges and opportunities of the US marketplace. The partnership offers the perspective of a global organization combined with detailed knowledge of local, state and US national issues. PwC has a history in client services that dates back to the nineteenth century as each accounting practice was originated in London during the mid-1800s.
Today, PwC serves a total of 29 industries. Its professionals are focused and well educated in the assurance, tax, human resources, transactions, performance improvement and crisis management fields. This all helps to resolve complex client and stakeholder issues worldwide. The partnership also brings experience and talents to help educational institutions, the federal government, non-profit organizations, and international relief agencies address their unique business issues.
Meeting current business challenges rests on the way PwC approaches its work. This approach to the corporation is often called, Connected Thinking. Connected Thinking fosters collaboration and knowledge sharing whether staff members are at a client site, telecommuting, or working from any one of the offices nationwide. PwC combines unique perspectives, skills, and diverse backgrounds to create innovative solutions to today's most complex business issues.
PricewaterhouseCoopers' audit clients included four of the 10 largest public companies in the United States, ExxonMobil, Ford Motor Company, ChevronTexaco and IBM. PwC also audits four of the 10 largest companies in the United Kingdom, GlaxoSmithKline, Royal Dutch Shell, Barclays and Lloyds TSB.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, gives PwC the unique distinction of having been the tabulator and certifier of votes for the Academy Awards since 1934. Furthermore, PwC audits 40% of companies in the FTSE 100 Index and 45% of the Fortune 1000. The following are just some PwC audit clients that are part of the FT Global 500: Anheuser-Busch, Krispy Kreme, American Express, eBay, Volvo, Nintendo, Alltell, Corning Inc., L’Oreal, Nike, 3M, Goldman Sachs, CBS, Samsung and Walt Disney.
PwC's only product is the output of its employees, and because of this the firm has set up a very competitive recruiting program. PricewaterhouseCoopers was recently included in Fortune magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For" list, being listed under No. 58 in 2007. Additionally, in the UK, PwC has been voted No. 1 in the Times Top 100 Graduate Employers for consecutive years. PricewaterhouseCoopers has also become one of the Top 10 Companies for Working Mothers. The Canadian practice of this partnership was named one of Canada's Top 100 Employers by Maclean's magazine, one of only a handful of professional services firms to receive this honor.