The Big Four firm increased its profits to £1,016m, up from £935m in 2018, driven by growth across all service lines
Despite a tumultuous year for the industry, with a raft of reviews into the audit market, PwC UK partners saw their profit per partner jump to £765,000 from £712,000 in 2018.
Revenues across the firm, which includes PwC Middle East, rose 12% to £4.23bn. Assurance revenues increased by 8.1%, consulting by 22.1%, and deals by 8.7%. Its tax practice revenues rose by 13.5% and the Middle East business grew by 19.1%.
“We experienced high demand for our core services and, in particular, for technology-related solutions,” said Kevin Ellis, PwC UK chairman and senior partner.
“We remain optimistic about the UK post-Brexit and are keen to play our role in ensuring people from a diverse range of backgrounds can contribute to the UK’s success. Clearly, there are risks associated with the UK’s planned exit from the EU. Significant work has gone into ensuring we have the necessary resilience in our own business and the right expertise to support our clients. We are committed to creating quality jobs across the UK and working with corporate Britain, government and education providers to ensure we’re building a strong digital future across the UK,” he added.
More than 4,000 staff joined the firm in the UK including 1,345 graduates and school leavers. It also spent £30m on a programme to improve its audit quality following several inquiries into the market.
“We are disappointed that this year’s FRC audit quality inspection results were below the high standards we are committed to achieving on all of our audits,” said Ellis.
The firm says it plans to spend a further £140m this year on people, training, technology and upskilling.
Its total tax contribution was £1.26bn, up from £1.18bn in 2018.
Sourced from ICAEW - written by Raymond Doherty