Pricewaterhouse Coopers reports £2.25 billion income despite market collapse
08 Sep 2009
Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC), UK's largest accountancy firm, has reported record fee income of £2.25 billion amid the global financial market crisis.
PwC's role as administrator of the European arm of Lehman Brothers, the US investment bank that collapsed almost a year ago, alone generated about £100 million in fees for the year ended 30June.
The firm earned £811 million for work across its various practices carried out for financial institutions, including Barclays and Lloyds TSB, with the surge in restructurings and growth in consultancy practice boosting overall performance by nearly 1 per cent.
Auditing fees declined by 1 per cent to £861 million, contributing about a third to the firm's turnover while fees from its tax practice fell 4 per cent to £650 million hit by falling income from mergers and takeovers.
A five per cent rise to £737 million in fees from advisory practices compensated the fall in revenues from other divisions, including corporate recover, management consulting and fraud investigations and other forensic services related to legal disputes.
Overall net profit stood at £667 million for the year, with the average partner's share of profits declining three per cent to £777,000 with their investments in business.