PwC was formed in 1998 by the merger of two major accounting firms, Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand. Following the merger, the firm was initially known as PricewaterhouseCoopers until it rebranded to the shortened, lowercase name "pwc" in September 2010.
Price Waterhouse merged with Coopers & Lybrand to form PricewaterhouseCoopers from 1 July 1998 (Accountancy, July 1998, p. 10 and Accountancy Age, 4 June 1998, p. 1).
PricewaterhouseCoopers, also known as PwC, is a British multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, along with Deloitte, EY, and KPMG.
Our brand identity refresh introduces a new brand system so that wherever a client is in the world they will have a consistent and relevant PwC experience. All the elements that make up our visual identity—logo, colour, photography - have evolved to position our capabilities as relevant for our clients and our people.
In February 2025, PIF announced a wide-ranging ban on employment of PwC's consultants. The ban was brought into place shortly after PwC hired around 70 forensic investigators, mostly from Deloitte Middle East in a coordinated poaching operation in October (IO, 17/02/25).
Choosing among the Big 4 consulting firms—whether as a client or an aspiring consultant—depends heavily on your strategic priorities, industry, and desired service line. Deloitte leads in innovation and transformation. PwC blends audit depth with strategic consulting.
PwC's global leadership is taking steps to protect the firm's reputation by ending relationships with clients considered “high-risk.” The Big 4 has ceased operations in more than a dozen countries due to the market being, Too small to scale. Client risk being too high.
IBM Corporation announced on August 2, 2002, that it would acquire the worldwide consulting and technology services business of PricewaterhouseCoopers for an estimated purchase price of US$3.5 billion in cash and stock. The deal closed on October 1, 2002.
1982 - Price Waterhouse World Firm forms. 1990 - Coopers & Lybrand merges with Deloitte Haskins & Sells in a number of countries around the world. 1998 - Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand merge to create PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The "Big 8" accounting firms were the dominant professional service networks before late 20th-century mergers and industry shifts reduced them to the current "Big Four": Deloitte, PwC, EY, and KPMG, with the original Big 8 including Arthur Andersen, Arthur Young, Coopers & Lybrand, Deloitte Haskins & Sells, Ernst & Whinney, Peat Marwick Mitchell, Price Waterhouse, and Touche Ross, notes Wikipedia. The consolidation into the Big 4 happened through major mergers in the late 1980s and Arthur Andersen's collapse after the Enron scandal, leaving these four firms to audit most public companies today.
The Big 5 consulting firms refer to the five largest global management consulting firms: Deloitte, PwC, EY, KPMG, and Accenture. These companies provide diverse services that span management consulting, technological solutions, strategic planning and human resource advice.
The top 10 largest accounting firms by revenue:
In 2025, PwC was seen turning to layoffs instead, reducing its headcount by 5,600 employees to 365,000, instead of adding to its ranks. In order to meet the 2026 target, Business Insider estimates that PwC will have to hire over 40,000 workers over the next 12 months if it has any hopes of meeting its goals.
A: The ban followed PwC's attempt to poach Jason Davies, Neom's former Chief Internal Audit Officer, which Saudi authorities viewed as a breach of trust. The PIF action was client-specific, not regulatory, and only affected advisory and consulting mandates—not audit services.
The PwC tax scandal was a scandal involving PwC's abuse of the Australian Government's secrets to enrich itself and its corporate clients. The Treasury Building, Canberra.