PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is a multinational professional services network headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the second largest professional services firm in the world, and is one of the Big Four accounting firms along with Deloitte, EY and KPMG. PwC has operations in 157 countries, 742 locations, with more than 276,000 people.
PwC provides assurance (which includes financial audit), tax, and consulting services to clients. Its principal areas of practice include audit and assurance, tax, consulting, deals, risk assurance and actuarial valuation. Audit and assurance services are provided to public and private clients through six main service lines: external audit, internal audit, accounting advisory, risk consulting, financial accounting advisory and forensic accounting.
Tax services are provided through three main service lines: corporate tax, international tax and indirect tax. Consulting services are provided through four main service lines: strategy and operations, technology, human resources and financial advisory. Deals services are provided through two main service lines: transaction advice and restructuring. Risk assurance services are provided through six main service lines: internal audit outsourcing, actuarial valuation, financial risk management, information security, enterprise risk management and business continuity planning.
PricewaterhouseCoopers is organised into four networks: the Americas; Asia-Pacific; Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEEMEA); and Western Europe. Each network is further divided into countries, and each country is divided into one or more territories.
PricewaterhouseCoopers has a number of global industry-specific practices, which provide services to clients in particular industries. These include: banking and capital markets; consumer and industrial products; energy, utilities and mining; financial services; government and public sector; healthcare; insurance; private equity; real estate, hospitality and construction; technology, media and telecommunications; and transportation and logistics.
The firm also has a number of accounting-related practices, which provide services on accounting standards, financial reporting, regulatory compliance, corporate governance and risk management. These include: accounting advisory, auditing, business recovery services, corporate finance, forensic accounting, insolvency, and taxation.
PricewaterhouseCoopers has a number of academic and professional partnerships, which provide educational and research opportunities for its employees and clients. These include: the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (AICPA), the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA).