PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited is a British multinational professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand, based in London, England. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting firms, along with Deloitte, EY, and KPMG.
PwC firms are in 158 countries, across 742 locations, with 328,000 people. As of 2019, 26% of the workforce was based in the Americas, 26% in Asia, 32% in Western Europe, and 5% in Middle East and Africa. The company's global revenues were US$50.3 billion in FY 2022, of which $18.0 billion was generated by its Assurance practice, $11.6 billion by its Tax and Legal practice and $20.7 billion by its Advisory practice. The firm in its recent actual form was created in 1998 by a merger between two accounting firms: Coopers & Lybrand, and Price Waterhouse. Both firms had histories dating back to the 19th century. The trading name was shortened to PwC in September 2010 as part of a rebranding effort.
The firm has been embroiled in a number of corruption controversies and crime scandals. The firm has on multiple occasions been implicated in tax evasion and tax avoidance practices. The firm has frequently been fined by regulators for performing audits that fail to meet basic auditing standards. Amid Russia's war in Ukraine, PwC has helped Russian oligarchs to hide their wealth and helped to undermine the global sanctions regime on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.