PricewaterhouseCoopers reported Tuesday that its global revenues in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2014 increased 6 percent to $34 billion.
PwC said it experienced strong growth in the Americas, the Middle East and Africa. Revenues also rose in Europe despite the troubled economy in some European countries. PwC’s global workforce now tops 195,000, with a record number of 20,000 graduates joining the firm in fiscal year 2014.
PwC noted that revenue growth was strong across all lines of business for all of the largest firms in its global network and in all geographic regions.
“With organizations and our stakeholders around the world looking to PwC to help build trust in society and solve important problems, PwC firms continued to perform very well in FY 2014,” said PricewaterhouseCoopers International Ltd. Dennis M. Nally in a statement. “This strong performance was despite economic challenges in some countries, increased regulation and stiff competition in all our markets. Our success is built on the talent of our people, the strength of our unmatched global network, and our ongoing investments in the quality of our services right across the world. We’re also expanding our services to meet the needs of clients in the digital age by providing technology-enabled products including digital services, data and analytics and cybersecurity.”
Nally noted that PwC’s growth in emerging markets outpaced its growth in the developed economies. “The emerging markets are an increasingly important part of our business,” he said. “They now make up 20 percent of our global revenues and are expected to grow substantially over the next five years.”
PwC experienced strong revenue growth in India, which was up 24 percent, along with China (up 11 percent), and Brazil (up 10 percent).
The network also saw excellent results from PwC’s largest firms in the developed world. Revenues rose in the U.S. by 6 percent, in the United Kingdom by 5 percent, in Germany by 4 percent, and in Japan by 10 percent. “Even in countries such as Italy and France where the economic conditions remain tough, we have seen growth of 8 percent and 5 percent respectively,” said Nally.
He noted that PwC plans to step up its recruiting efforts among students. “We plan to recruit even more graduates across the world in FY 2015 than we did in FY 2014, with a particular emphasis on students in the emerging markets and those studying overseas who plan to return to rapidly expanding markets like Africa,” he said. “We are also actively recruiting students studying science and engineering to meet the growing need for data and analytics expertise by our clients.”
PwC said it continues to focus on recruiting the best talent, adding 45,000 people in FY 2014, including 20,000 new graduates, to bring the global workforce to more than 195,000.
In FY 2014, PwC firms and people donated nearly US$87 million to community activities, while more than 53,000 PwC people donated more than 600,000 hours in professional services and skilled volunteer activities.
Nally said PwC is optimistic about the prospects for the global economy in the year ahead, and expects global GDP growth to increase to 3.2 percent in 2015.
Regional Results
PwC firms in the Middle East and Africa showed growth of 16 percent, reflecting sustained investment by the firm and growing demand for its services as these economies rapidly develop and mature.
Growth in South America was 13 percent, including strong growth in Brazil despite a challenging economy. In North America, PwC’s revenues were up 7 percent, reflecting ongoing growth for advisory and consulting services in the region.
Revenues also increased across Europe, up 4 percent in Western Europe and 3 percent in Central and Eastern Europe, despite continued sluggish economic conditions in many European countries.
Growth in revenues from Asia rebounded to 9 percent in FY 2014 from 2 percent the previous year. The increase was driven by solid results across the region and particularly from China, India and Japan.
In Australasia and Pacific Islands, PwC firms returned to healthy growth with an increase in revenues of 4 percent, largely due to a focus on the growing advisory services market in Australia.
Lines of Business
PwC's Assurance practice, its largest business and the largest practice of its type in the world, grew by 3 percent to US$15.1 billion, accounting for 45 percent of PwC’s global revenues. Demand for broader forms of assurance services, such as reporting on internal audit and risk controls, continued to expand among the firm’s clients. PwC said this trend is expected to continue as assurance principles are applied in areas such as social and environmental reporting.
Revenues from PwC's Advisory practice grew strongly in FY 2014, increasing by 10 percent to US$10 billion, a doubling of global advisory revenues in the past five years and comprising 29 percent of PwC’s total global revenues. Growth in advisory revenues was primarily organic, reflecting a focus on cross-border assignments involving a broad range of services from strategy through execution implementation. The acquisition of Booz and Company, which was renamed Strategy&, boosted PwC’s capability to perform strategy work; and revenues from strategy consulting are expected to grow strongly in the year ahead. The Strategy& acquisition was only completed in the last quarter of FY 2014 and therefore its full impact will not be felt until FY 2015, PwC noted.
Revenues from PwC's Tax practice also grew strongly, increasing by 8 percent to US$8.8 billion in FY 2014, confirming PwC’s position as the largest tax practice in the world. Demand for tax services is expected to remain strong next year, driven by growing needs for both tax compliance and tax advisory work, PwC noted. PwC firms operate under a
