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pricewaterhousecoopers

PricewaterhouseCoopers, Second-Largest Business Services Chain In The World.

PricewaterhouseCoopers or PwC is a global network of professional services firms that operate as partnerships. Along with Deloitte, EY, and KPMG, it is amongst the Big Four accounting companies and has the second-largest business services chain in the world.

About The Company

Founded in 1998, PwC is an international network of services firms providing services like Services Assurance, Risk assurance, Tax advisory, Legal Services, Data & Analytics, and Management consulting. Financial advisory and Forensic accounting. PwC firms have over 2,84,000 employees across 157 countries and 742 locations. PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited is a coordinating body for the worldwide network of firms with headquarters in London. In order to establish a standard and unified approach in areas like risk, quality, and strategy, it oversees the worldwide brand and develops policies and programs. It doesn’t offer customers any services.

pricewaterhousecoopers
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History Of The Company

The term “Cooper” in PricewaterhouseCoopers is derived from William Cooper, a London accountant who established a business in 1854 with his brothers. The aptly named Cooper Brothers amalgamated with two North American companies a century later and named it Coopers & Lybrand.

An accounting firm was established in London, England, in 1849 by accountant Samuel Lowell Price. In 1865, Price formed a company with Edwin Waterhouse and William Hopkins Holyland. Holyland left soon after to continue accounting alone, and the company became Price, Waterhouse & Co. in 1874. Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand combined in 1998 to establish PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Following the merger, the company, like other significant accountancy firms, had a sizable professional consulting section that provided the majority of its fees. The adoption of intricate integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems by multinational corporations served as the primary driver of growth in the 1990s.

Acquisitions

Omnilogic Systems, Canada’s biggest SAP consultancy partner, was purchased by PwC in 2000. In 2009, PwC started to rebuild its consulting practice through acquisitions, including Paragon Consulting Group and BearingPoint’s commercial services division. The leading Middle Eastern implementation partner for Salesforce, NSI DMCC, was bought by PwC in November 2016. In 2018, Veritas Capital purchased PwC’s U.S. public sector division and renamed the new entity Guidehouse.

Operations

PwC is a collective term for the PwC network and its affiliated companies, with each company having a distinct legal entity under applicable local laws. Each member company is independently owned and operated, much like other professional service companies. PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited, a private corporation limited by guarantee under English law, oversees PwC. PwC is additionally listed as a multifunctional organization that offers legal services. PwC operates globally, with 44% of its operations in the USA as of 2016. The company’s service line consists of Assurance, Advisory, and Tax services. PwC also contributes to data analysis in a variety of fields. In a 2016 analysis, PwC predicted that by 2020, the global drone market would be close to $127 billion, with Poland leading the way in legislation governing unmanned drones’ commercial usage. The Low Carbon Economy Index, which monitors how much the G20 nations are lowering their carbon emissions, is published by PwC. PwC Portugal is working on a lengthy study project called The Economy of the Sea. It is a component of the HELM project, which was started in 2006 and aimed to develop an integrated strategy for effective and sustainable maritime activities. It gathers information from countries that use the sea as well as the sectors that depend on it and analyses best practices from around the world. Total Impact Measurement and Management (TIMM) is a methodology created by PwC to help businesses conduct impact assessments that will enable them to value all their operations, goods, and services.

Founder – Samuel Lowell Price

English accountant Samuel Lowell Price was born in London. The accounting firm Price Waterhouse, which is now a part of PricewaterhouseCoopers, was co-founded by him, William Hopkins Holyland, and Edwin Waterhouse. He began his career as an accountant at a young age, joining the neighborhood business of Bradley, Barnard & Co. He formed a company with William Edwards in 1848, but it was dissolved by 1849. Later in the year, he went solo and founded the now-famous firm PwC.

KPMG

KPMG – One Of The Big Four Accountancy Firms.

KPMG is a network of professional companies offering financial audit, tax, and advisory services on a global scale. KPMG, aka Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdele, has a global footprint and keeps expanding on its achievements. It is one of the Big Four accountancy firms.

About the Company

KPMG International Limited, often known as KPMG, is a global professional services network. KPMG has its headquarters in the Netherlands, even though it was founded in the United Kingdom. The company’s massive network of affiliates has been involved in legal proceedings and regulatory measures during the past ten years.

KPMG
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History

KPMG’s founders were in the spotlight, leading the industry, as the industrial revolution in the late 18th and 19th centuries aided in making accounting a profession. At the age of 17, William Barclay Peat (the P in KPMG) began his profession as an accountant with Robert Fletcher & Co. Peat advanced fast through the positions in the company, and in 1891 he took over as its president and renamed the company to William Barclay Peat & Co. The American company Marwick, Mitchell & Company was founded in New York City in 1897. James Marwick, the “M” in KPMG, and Roger Mitchell, both Scottish immigrants, founded the business. Although many believed there was no purpose or demand for accountants in the city, the two quickly developed a solid reputation. In 1917, the K in KPMG, Piet Klynveld, launched a modest accountancy firm in Amsterdam. The firm later became Klynveld Kraayenhof & Company(KKC) after Jaap Kraayenhof joins it. Reinhard Goerdeler, the final founding father and the “G” in KPMG, enters the picture in 1953, over 50 years later, when he joins Deutsche Treuhand-Gesellschaft (DTG). Peat and Mitchell crossed the Atlantic in 1911 on their way from Europe to America. The two got along well during the weeklong trip and, by the conclusion of it, had worked out a strategy to work together.

Later, the company changed its name to Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co. Sir William Peat led the charge to amend the Institute’s rules to allow for the entrance of women. Ethel Watts, the first female ICAEW accountant in 1924, worked with Sir Harry Peat, his son when she was a student. Peat, Marwick, Mitchell Co (International) changed its organisational structure and name to Peat Marwick International(PMI) in 1978. In 1979, Klynveld Kraayenhof & Co. partnered with DTG and McLintock Main Lafrentz to become Klynveld Main Goerdeler(KMG).A little less than ten years later, in 1986, PMI and KMG combined. When the transaction was made public on January 1, 1987, the joint firms changed their names to KMPG, aka Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler. It represented the biggest merger in the accounting industry’s history at the time. The KPMG infrastructure continued to grow into emerging markets in the 1990s and the 2000s. KPMG companies contributed to developing economies and economic growth in nations including Russia, India, and Myanmar.

Global Operations

Each local KPMG business is a separate legal entity and a part of the U.K. Limited Company KPMG International Limited, which was established in London, United Kingdom. In 2003, KPMG International converted from a Swiss Verein to a co-operative under Swiss law, and in 2020, to a limited corporation. In some jurisdictions, some KPMG member companies are registered as multifunctional entities that also offer legal services. Foreign auditing firms are not allowed to operate in India due to regulations. As a result, KPMG conducts audits in India in the name of BSR & Co, an audit company it purchased. B.S. Raut established the auditing company BSR & Co. in Mumbai. KPMG received approval to operate as an investment bank in India in 1992 when India was obliged to liberalise as a requirement of the IMF and World Bank bailout. It then acquired BSR & Co, using that name to carry out audits throughout India.

Founders – Marwick Mitchell & Co., Klynveld Kraayenhof & Co., William Barclay Peat & Co., Klynveld Main Goerdeler

The company’s four founders, Klynveld, Peat, Marwick, and Goerdeler, are represented by the initials KMPG. In 155 countries today, KPMG’s system of member firms has over 2,27,000 employees dedicated to building on a solid foundation while inspiring confidence and enabling transformation for customers, communities, and society.

CEO – William B. Thomas

Bill Thomas is the CEO and Chairman of KPMG International. With more than ten years of executive-level leadership experience, Bill previously held the positions of CEO and Senior Partner of KPMG in Canada. He has pushed the company’s worldwide strategy through local, regional, and global geographies at every step of his career, balancing realism and innovation to produce tangible outcomes.

Deloitte

Deloitte – A 176-years Old Multinational Conglomerate Successfully Running A Professional Services Network.

William Welch Deloitte founded the company back in 1845 in London, England. The full name of the company is Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited. It is a private company that operates a network of professional services in over 150 countries. It is the largest company in the world in the sector of professional services in terms of revenue generated and employees working for the company. Currently, there are more than 334,000 professionals offering services like consulting, financial advisory, legal, etc. in the company. Sharon Thorne is the present Chairperson of Deloitte Global and Punit Renjen is the CEO of the same.

About Deloitte

Deloitte, originally established in London, expanded to the United States in the late 1800s. In 1989, the company merged with Touche Ross and after a few years, the company rebranded to Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. But, the company’s name was again abbreviated to Deloitte later. the company provides a wide range of professional services like financial advisory, tax, legal, audit, risk advisory, and consulting. The company is not just the largest brand in the professional service sector it is also the third-largest privately owned company in the US.

Deloitte
Image source: www.consultancy.eu

The Early History of the Company

Hiring professionals to solve complex business problems is the root idea behind the establishment of Company. The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a company in England that generated revenue by selling equity to the public. In 1849, William Welch Deloitte was given the responsibility to audit the company. When the boom in joint-stock companies took place, eventually the demand for people with professional skills surged. So, George A. Touche established an accounting company in 1898 to meet this demand and started expanding the territory of Touche, Niven & Company.

The stock market crash of 1929 brought before all the fact that some bankruptcies were prevented due to proper accounting. When this matter was brought before the US Senate Committee on Banking and Currency, hiring independent audits was made compulsory for public corporations. So, the demand for accountants increased once again and many women accountants found jobs. On the other hand, William by then opened several offices after his journey started with GWR. In 1972, the company merged with Haskins & Sells, and the new company became Deloitte Haskins & Sells. In 1989, the company again merged with Touche Ross but many important people disagreed with the merger and the lead kept changing constantly.

Company in the Modern Era

A lot of discrepancies took place regarding the name of Deloitte and Touche. So, in 1993, the company was given the name Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited. In 1995, Deloitte Consulting was formed, and eventually, the company started expanding, acquiring, and opening new services. At the beginning of the 2000s, the company acquired Eclipse, Beijing Pan-China CPA, and the North American Public Service of BearingPoint. the company opened a new branch called Deloitte Intelligence and started hiring ex-employees of the Central Intelligence Agency created a very strong team of professionals. The companies acquired by them were very diverse ranging from the real estate sector to mobile advertising agencies. This helped company expand its services and also generate more revenue.

One of the most successful units of the company is Deloitte Digital which acquired 11 digital marketing agencies in the span of 5 years. In 2016, Deloitte and Apple went into a joint partnership to increase the sales of Apple’s mobile phones and engagement of Deloitte consultants for Apple’s products and services. The services offered by the company as well as its geographical market keep on expanding. As of last year, the company generated annual revenue of more than $45 billion.

About William Welch Deloitte

William Welch Deloitte, born in 1818, started his professional career very early. Only at the age of 15, he started working as an assistant for the Official Assignee at the Bankruptcy Court in London. While working as an assistant, he learned about business and eventually became an accountant. When he was 25 he opened his own office but his life took a huge turn when he became the first even independent auditor appointed. Eventually, he started establishing multiple offices of Deloitte and when he retired from the company, it existed as Deloitte, Plender, Griffiths & Co.