PwC dismisses reports of profits slump
PricewaterhouseCoopers has dismissed a weekend newspaper report claiming the Big five firm has missed its profit targets for the year.
The Sunday Times claimed the firm had missed its annual profit target by 20%, ‘raising questions about partner pay and staffing levels’.
In the article an unnamed partner at PwC, alleged the firm had reached just 82% of its target income per partner and predicted ‘awful’ future payouts to partners.
But a spokesman for the firm said there were no current earnings figures available, and dismissed the report as ‘rumour and speculation’.
He told AccountancyAge.com: ‘We issued figures in January this year. No date has been set yet for issuing this year’s figures’. He declined to comment on earnings or profitably.
The firm stood by comments that staffing levels were constantly being reviewed to make sure the firm had the ‘appropriate skills mix’ to meet client needs.
In August the firm’s consulting division cancelled 78 graduate contracts due to what it called ‘dwindling activity’ in the consultancy sector. In June PwC said it would shut three of its offices in the East Midlands and open a new single location in what it described as a reorganisation of its presence in the region.
The declining economic situation has also affected other Big Five firms. Recently Ernst & Young cut 200 jobs in its corporate recovery, corporate finance and audit practises, while Deloitte & Touche trimmed nine employees from its corporate finance operations.
In August, Accenture, the consultancy which split from Andersen last year, told 170 of its graduates to stay at home.
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