Member Article

PwC turnover hits £2,461m

Professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP have announced a turnover growth of 6% to £2,461m for the year ending June 30, 2011.

North East figures show a strong 5. 6% growth, with the national results up from £2,331m in the previous year.

The company recruited over 2,400 people in the UK and a further 800 in the Middle East throughout the year, and were voted top of the Times Top 100 Employers survey for a record eighth consecutive year.

81 new full equity partners were also admitted, including 32 direct partners.

Senior Partner Paul Woolston, from the Newcastle office stated that PwC plan to continue investment in their workforce.

He said: “The performance of the North East office reflects our strong position in the local market place where we continue to serve our clients with the highest level of professional services.

“We support North East business and communities in the wide ranging projects we are involved in across the region and have stayed close to our clients throughout the downturn.”

A new Public Interest Body, chaired by Sir Richard Lapthorne with a further four senior independent non-executives, Sir Graeme Davies, Paul Skinner, Sir Ian Gibson and Dame Karen Dunnell, was also set up to contribute to governance of the firm.

As for corporate responsibility, partners and staff contributed 50,000 hours of work for charities and community organisations during the year.

Ian Powell, Chairman and Senior Partner of PwC UK commented that he was pleased with the strong performance in the face of, “volatile financial markets, fragile economic confidence and the tightening of public expenditure.”

He said: “Despite the challenging environment, our assurance business performed well competitively winning the Aviva, TUI and IG Holdings audits and achieving turnover growth of 6% to £909m.

“Competition in our markets remains fierce and we recognise that we need to continue to demonstrate to our clients that we can deliver the quality and value they demand both here in the UK and internationally.”

Looking to the future, PwC’s Northern Chairman, Steve Denison remained positive despite economic uncertainties.

He said: “We recognise the short term economic outlook remains uncertain for the North but we can see excellent long term growth prospects in serving the needs of entrepreneurs, mid-cap and private companies, as we are seeing increased demand from regional businesses outside the FTSE.”

Mr Denison went on to say that he was pleased that many PwC clients were well positioned to face economic uncertainties and seize opportunities that should arise when the upturn materialises.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .