PwC's revenue growth has lagged its largest Big Four rivals over the past year after a sharp slowdown in Europe and the Middle East, triggered by geopolitical strife. The accounting and consulting firm reported global revenues of $60.2bn for the year to June 30, a 3.5 per cent increase when adjusted for currency fluctuations. That was an acceleration from the previous 12 months, when revenues rose by 2.7 per cent. However, rivals Deloitte and EY have both posted faster year-on-year growth in recent weeks.
"We achieved robust growth, even in the face of geopolitical and economic uncertainty," said Mohamed Kande, PwC's global chair. Results were held back by the performance of PwC's Europe, Middle East and Africa region, which grew 0.7 per cent after being affected by the Middle East conflict and a slowdown in consulting work for the Saudi Arabian government. PwC UK said last month that its revenues had declined for the first time in more than two decades.
Asia-Pacific, PwC's smallest region, recorded the fastest growth at 7.7 per cent, as it began to recover from scandals in China and Australia that hit business in those markets two years ago. PwC's 3.5 per cent growth compared with 3.8 per cent at Deloitte and 4.7 per cent at EY. After more than five consecutive years of faster growth by EY, its revenues are now just $3.2bn behind PwC.
Like other large consulting firms, PwC has been wrestling with the impact of AI on its business, retooling operations and building new services such as advising clients on AI implementation. Uncertainty over how the technology fits into existing IT infrastructure has been holding back the industry. Revenue growth in PwC's advisory arm, its largest division, slowed to 3 per cent from 4.5 per cent, totalling $25.8bn. Headcount reached almost 370,000 at the end of June, up from 364,000 a year earlier.
Source: Financial Times Companies · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing