PwC Consulting and Strategy& admit 18 new partners
The Australian division of accounting and consulting giant has admitted a total of 90 new partners to its partnership.
Sixty-nine of the new partners were added via organic growth during the financial year up to 1 July 2019, with the largest batch (18) active in PwC’s financial advisory arm. This unit supports clients with strategic, corporate finance, merger & acquisition, economic, disputes & litigation and restructuring advice.
An equal number of partners (18) have ascended to the partnership of PwC’s Assurance and Consulting businesses. PwC Assurance focuses on accounting, reporting and related regulatory issues (e.g. Sarbanes-Oxley, IFRS, etc) and helps clients with assurance on financial performance and operations.
PwC Consulting comprises the firm’s services in management consulting, risk consulting and technology consulting. The division, which is led in Australia by Liza Maimone, has more than 1,900 people and 160 partners. PwC Consulting also oversees PwC’s Strategy& subsidiary, led by Ben Gilbertson, the firm’s dedicated strategy consulting arm established in 2014 when PwC acquired Booz & Company globally.
Two partners are based in the PwC’s staff units, while the $90 million acquisition of insolvency specialist PPB Advisory – closed in August last year, just after the start of the financial year – resulted in an additional 21 partners joining the professional services firm.
Last year, PwC admitted 85 partners to its Australian leadership team, of which 27 in the Consulting division.
Diversity at the top
The 2019 intake of new partners has enhanced PwC’s gender and ethnic diversity in its top ranks. 35% of the admitted partners are female, and 22% come from a diverse cultural background. Despite not meeting the firm’s diversity target of 40% women for partner intakes, it does help the firm edge closer to its goal. Since introducing the target a few years ago, PwC’s partnership has increased from 17% to the current 28% female overall.
In another angle on diversity at the top, 4 of the 69 partners work part-time, and two are currently on parental leave, with plans to return part-time. Commenting on the development, Helen Fazzino, PwC’s managing partner for people and culture, said: “The idea of how a ‘typical’ partner works has come a long way in the last few years, influenced by our all roles flex policies, and supported by technology which enables our people to work seamlessly from any location.”
Meanwhile, at the bottom of the pyramid, PwC is actively recruiting to bolster its junior ranks. In a statement released in January, the firm admitted that it is seeking to bring 550 graduates on board in the current financial year.
With revenues of over $2.3 billion, PwC the largest of the so-called Big Four accounting and consulting firms in Australia. The company employs more than 700 partners and 8,000 staff, and is led by chief executive Luke Sayers.
