Retired PwC partners split £100m windfall

RETIRED partners at PwC have shared a £100m windfall after a year of bumper profits at the firm.

The group of 1,100 former partners at the big- four accountant – including one who now sits on the conduct committee of the industry’s regulator – will get an average of £90,000 each.

However, PwC does not disclose how the money is divided, and some former partners are understood to get much more than others.

The payment was made through PwC’s annuities system, and declared to ex-partners in a letter first reported by the Financial Times.

But the windfall has provoked outrage at a time when the big-four accountants – and PwC in particular – have been criticised for shoddy audits.

Independent MP Frank Field said: ‘Given the track record that the four big accountancy firms have in adequately performing their role, I would hope all these partners would donate their bonuses to the people who have been harmed as a result of their inadequate performance.’

Field said he would be taking the matter up with Downing Street in the hope of establishing a commission to review sky-high bonuses.

Prem Sikka, professor of accounting at the university of Sheffield, added: ‘It seems in Britain that if you offer shoddy services, you get rich.’ one to benefit is John Hitchins, who sits on the conduct committee of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), was a partner at PwC for 26 years before leaving in 2014.

A spokesman for PwC said: ‘our partnership agreement requires former partners to comply with requirements we have in place for establishing and maintaining the firm’s independence.’