Last year, 950 PwC UK equity partners were treated to record-breaking £1 million pound ($1.2 million) payouts, effortlessly beating the 2020 high of £868,000 and quite a leap from £765,000 in 2019. Sadly for them they won’t be cruising right past a million this year.
More than 1,000 partners at the UK division of the “big four” accounting firm PwC will be paid £906,000 this year, a slight fall on last year’s record payout as profits fell despite rising revenues.
Unaudited accounts released by the company showed that PwC’s UK profit fell from £1.5bn to £1.3bn in 2022, although last year’s figure was boosted by a £139m gain from the sale of its global mobility business.
Excluding the asset sale, revenues rose by 18%, from £4.9bn to £5.8bn.
More than 1,000 partners = 1,057. 1057 partners x £906,000 a piece = £957,642,000 ($1,217,641,803 USD).
Last year’s exceptional payout numbers were boosted by the sale of PwC’s Global Mobility Tax and Immigration Services business to private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice for a cool $2.2 billion (£1.83 billion), a transaction that put another £100,000 in each partner’s pocket. Actual profit per partner in the year ended June 2022 was £920,000 so while this year’s payout is down they still did quite well all things considered.
PwC UK Chair Kevin Ellis wasn’t exactly thrilled about the past year. Such as:
“In my working life, we haven’t seen a year like this year in terms of political and economic turbulence, so I’m quite comforted with how we performed against that backdrop.” (He began his career at PwC in 1984)
Still, he’s hopeful dried-up deals will get going again soon. “We’re still waiting for the moment when the deals market goes gangbusters again,” he said to Daily Mail. “What everyone’s waiting for is certainty around inflation and interest rates. Then deals will take off again.”
In the official press release on the year’s performance his communications people were he was a bit better at projecting the right narrative for a global professional services behemoth that is having the same bad year as everyone else. “Against a backdrop of political and economic upheaval, our multidisciplinary business has charted a strong course. Considering the sizable investments we’ve made in our people and technology, partner profits beat our forecasts. Our strong performance is due to the adaptability of our business in supporting our clients and is a credit to the talent of our people.”
UK headcount including partners increased from 24,500 to 26,000 for the year and the firm invested invested £100 million in new technology including generative AI and skills training.
And this is where the money is coming from:
Overall PwC UK consolidated Group revenues, which include the consolidated revenues for the PwC UK, Channel Islands and Middle East firms, grew 16% to £5.8bn, up from 12% growth in FY22.
The Group’s consulting revenues maintained the significant growth levels of the previous year, with growth of 30% (33% in FY22). This was driven by demand in the Middle East, as clients invest in programmes to modernise and diversify the region’s economy beyond oil. Energy diversification and sustainability are also behind many UK transformation projects, as the climate crisis and new reporting requirements galvanise businesses to move towards net zero.
Expanded reporting requirements have likewise increased client demand for the Group’s audit services. Group audit revenues recorded 19% growth, with the UK practice winning a number of high profile mandates, including becoming auditor to Natwest from 2026, and being reappointed by HSBC.
Tax, which includes People & Organisation and Legal services, recorded 19% Group revenue growth, and spearheaded PwC’s global investment in Generative AI platform Harvey.
The Group’s risk and deals divisions outperformed in a tough market, each achieving 6% revenue growth.
Financial services remains one of our key industry sectors, with 15% growth in the UK in FY23.
That’s it from across the pond, PwC Global revenue should be out some time in October.
“[R]eally, when you get down to it, the guys at Enron never would have done this. This is so blatant, so extreme,” Gates said of state governments’ accounting practices generally. “Is anyone paying attention to some of the things these guys do? They borrow money — they’re not supposed to, but they figure out a way — they make you pay more in withholding to help their cashflow out, they sell off the assets, they defer the payments, they sell off the revenues from tobacco.” [
