Partners at PWC collect £868,000 apiece after rise in deals triggers surge in profits

PWC hiked its average pay for partners by more than a quarter last year to a record £868,000 after a deal-making boom boosted demand for its advisory services.

The Big Four firm also paid out an unprecedented £128m in bonuses to its staff, and handed employees an extra week’s salary as well as an extra day off to “recognise their efforts” during the pandemic. This pay bump came as PWC posted a 25pc increase in profits, which hit £1.2bn for the 12 months to June. Revenues rose by just 2pc to £4.45bn.

Kevin Ellis, chairman and senior partner at PWC UK, said a flurry of deals in the City kept its consultants busy. Revenues in the firm’s advisory arm jumped 9pc to £854m.

He said: “The year really has been a story of two parts. Last summer, like many businesses, we faced significant economic disruption and huge uncertainty about how the pandemic would play out. After a challenging first six months where we held our nerve, made no redundancies and honoured job offers, we were well-placed to meet demand and create investment capacity as confidence in the market picked up.”

The firm’s audit revenues rose 7pc to £1.1bn, while revenues from giving tax advice were almost flat at £1.07bn.

PWC, KPMG, Deloitte and EY are in the process of separating the management of their audit and consulting arms as part of industry-wide reforms to reduce conflicts of interest and improve quality and competition.

Last month, the accounting watchdog published a damning report that found nearly a third of audits of British companies fell short of required standards last year.

PWC improved its quality score on the previous year.