PwC partners pocket £1.2m

PARTNERS at PwC will take home more than £1m each this year after it enjoyed a stellar financial performance.

Average UK profit per partner hit £920,000 for 2021-22, up from £868,000 on the previous year, sources close to the UK’s biggest accountancy firm said.

The partners will also share a windfall of about £100,000 each, generated by the sale of PwC’s global mobility services business in April.

It means 950 PwC partners based in the UK will take home on average £1.2m.

PwC had an exceptionally strong year, driven by a boom in corporate deal-making as private equity firms continued to scour the UK market.

The record partner pay has not officially been announced but will be made public when its audited financial results are published in the autumn.

Accountancy giants have enjoyed record profits over the past couple of years, helped by demand for consultants as companies continue reshape and digitise their operations after the Covid pandemic.

But the payouts come at a sensitive time, as the industry comes under fire over a string of auditing blunders that have led to huge fines.

The bumper windfalls also follow calls by Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, and ministers for private sector bosses to exercise pay restraint amid rampant inflation. It surged to 9.1pc in May and is predicted to rise by as much as 11pc this year amid jumps in the cost of energy, food and raw materials.

Andrew Speke, spokesman for the High Pay Centre, said: ‘These massive payouts show that pain caused by the cost-of-living crisis is not being shared equally.

‘Workers being told they shouldn’t be asking for pay rises due to inflationary pressures, will look on at stories like this and question why this doesn’t seem to apply to the richer in society.’