PwC global revenues up 7 per cent to $42.4 billion

PwC clients in the 2019 financial year

As PwC's clients face increasing challenges and opportunities driven by technological advances, stakeholder expectations, and other changes, they require the company to work together across the broad range of their operations to help deal with issues such as cybersecurity, trust, regulation and strategic workforce planning. And as a result, our business is growing rapidly in these areas to meet increased client demand.

“Over the past year, we have continued to focus on delivering value to our stakeholders, working hard to build trust and help our clients solve their most complex problems. As a result, PwC businesses grew in all major markets around the world. Our strong growth in revenues has enabled us to continue to invest in our businesses and our people. Investments in technology are making our services more relevant and enhancing the quality of our work.

“PwC firms now employ 276,000 people worldwide and are investing heavily in learning and development to ensure our people can build rewarding careers and are prepared for the future world of work,” said Bob Moritz, PwC’s global chairman.

A good performance across all services

Assurance: Despite very mature and highly competitive markets, revenues from PwC Assurance operations grew by 5 per cent to $17.4 billion. With 115,000 people across the world, the group continues to manage the challenges of mandatory firm rotation in many markets and attract new clients with the introduction of cutting-edge solutions and emerging technologies for the audit. In addition, demand for its broader assurance services continues in established areas such as internal audit, risk and compliance, as well as emerging areas such as data and analytics, cryptocurrency and blockchain.

Advisory: PwC Advisory operations grew by 10 per cent to $14.4 billion. In recent years the group has established a strong reputation for delivering value for clients from strategy to execution. This is driving high demand, particularly relating to deals, value creation, and business transformation. PwC Advisory operations now employ 68,000 people. The company engages a broad range of talents, bringing not only the more traditional management or strategy consultants, but also data scientists, AI experts, systems engineers, designers, communications experts, and others, to address clients’ most pressing business issues and opportunities. They also have alliances with many of the world’s leading technology companies to create cutting-edge solutions for clients.

Tax & Legal Services: PwC Tax & Legal revenues grew by 6 per cent to $10.7 billion, driven by continued complexity and change in many local tax systems, as well as the state of flux in the global regulatory and economic landscape. The 55,000 professionals in PwC's Tax and Legal Services practices use the latest technologies to help businesses navigate complexity and risk, build their people networks, and solve legal challenges while meeting their tax and other responsibilities.

PwC network in the 2019 financial year

New world, new skills

It has become increasingly apparent that one of the world’s most pressing challenges – and one faced by business – is the growing mismatch between the skills people have and those needed for the digital world.

There is an urgent need for organisations, governments, and educators to come together to fix this growing problem and business has an important role to play. Over the next four years, PwC is committing $3 billion in upskilling – primarily in training in-house personnel but also in developing and sharing technologies to support clients and communities.

“The skills gap is an issue that goes to the heart of our purpose and we have the scale and experience to make a measurable impact. That’s why today we are launching ‘New world, New skills’ – a commitment to tackle this important problem for our people, our clients, and the communities in which we operate,” said Moritz.

The programme focuses on four key areas:

• Upskilling all of PwC’s 276,000 people. The group will roll out different programmes that meet their particular needs, from skills academies to digital fitness apps to leadership development. A proportion of the company workforce will develop specialist skills in areas including data analytics, robotics process automation, and artificial intelligence for use in their work. For others, it is about understanding the potential of new technologies so they can advise clients, communities, and other stakeholders.
• PwC is also advising clients on the challenges posed by rapid technological change and automation. This includes identifying skills gaps and mismatches against likely future needs, workforce planning, upskilling programmes, and cultural change.
• The group will work with governments and institutions to reach a much broader group of people. For example, PwC in Luxembourg helped develop the Luxembourg Skills Bridge which brings together trade unions, associations, and businesses to build digital industries and develop digital skills, including among those populations most "at risk".
• PwC will help millions of people improve their skills and knowledge for the digital world by making upskilling a focus of its not-for-profit initiatives. This includes working with students and teachers, which will help ensure opportunities are more evenly spread and that they reach people who may otherwise be left behind.

Striving for the highest quality

The quality of work remains a core priority at PwC, and the organisation invests significant and increasing resources in its continuous enhancement across all of its businesses. This investment is targeted into many different areas, including training (technical, ethical, and behavioural), methodologies, adding resources in key areas, and exploring new ways of delivering work. PwC is also investing heavily in new technology to drive continuous improvements in the quality, capabilities, and effectiveness of all of its services. As part of its journey to be one of the most cloud-enabled organisations in the world, the group is investing over $1 billion in solutions and supporting programmes to create a connected ecosystem and drive innovation and quality.

“The quality of our work across the full range of our services is incredibly important. While we are proud to have been the first of the global professional services networks to have published its internal audit quality inspection results, we know we have more to do and are operating with a continuous improvement mindset. Both in terms of how we test, measure and enhance quality and also in the levels of investment we need to make to ensure our quality is as high as possible. We have added more detail in our Global Annual Review on audit quality and aim to increase transparency in the future,” said Moritz.