PwC (officially PricewaterhouseCoopers) is a global professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's second-largest professional services firm (after Deloitte) and one of the "Big Four" accountancy firms.
It has offices in 757 cities across 154 countries and employs over 161,000 people.It had total revenues of $26.6 billion in 2010, of which $13 billion was generated by its Assurance practice, $7 billion by its Tax practice and $6 billion by its Advisory practice.
The firm was formed in 1998 by a merger between Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand. The trading name was shortened to PwC in September 2010 as part of a major rebranding exercise.
As of 2010 it was the seventh-largest privately-owned organisation in the United States.
The international partnership of PricewaterhouseCoopers is the largest accounting and business consultancy firm in the world. With approximately 140,000 employees in 150 countries in 1999, the company offers auditing services, tax and legal advice, financial advice, business process outsourcing, and management consulting services. The partnership was created in 1998 from the merger of two Big Six accounting firms: Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand.
PowerShares Dynamic Market Portfolio (the Fund) seeks investment results that correspond to the price and yield of an equity index called the Dynamic Market Intellidex Index (the Market Intellidex). The Market Intellidex consists of 100 United States stocks selected each quarter by the AMEX (the Intellidex Provider).
The PowerShares Dynamic Market Portfolio bases its stock selection, portfolio management, and asset allocation decisions on an enhanced index called the Dynamic Market Intellidex Index. The Fund utilizes a direct index replication method.
Both Coopers & Lybrand and Price Waterhouse gradually increased their emphasis on consulting in the 1990s. Auditing was proving risky and expensive, as the Big Six were being held liable for the failure of companies they audited and induced into paying huge settlements. In 1992 Coopers & Lybrand settled a suit brought against it by the investors of MiniScribe, a disk-drive maker that went bankrupt. Fighting against claims that they should have caught the company's fraud, Coopers & Lybrand eventually agreed to pay investors $92 million. In another fraud-related case, the firm made large payments in 1996 to settle claims regarding failed companies in the media empire of the deceased Robert Maxwell. The accounting firm was fined by regulators in 1999 for their failure to detect Maxwell's fraudulent transfer of $650 million from a company pension fund to himself. Among other payments was Coopers & Lybrand's expensive settlement related to their auditing of Phar-Mor pharmacies, bankrupt in the mid-1990s.
Price Waterhouse had their own legal troubles in the 1990s. A protracted battle over the company's audit of Bank of Credit and Commerce International ended in 1995 with a payment of $200 million, significantly less than the $11 billion sought by the creditors of the collapsed bank. In addition to hefty settlements, the suits led to soaring insurance costs for the accounting firms. By the mid-1990s, many insurers refused to even cover the auditing practices of the Big Six firms, forcing Coopers & Lybrand and Price Waterhouse to set aside money to cover themselves.
Several factors led to growth in fee income for Coopers & Lybrand and Price Waterhouse in the mid-1990s. An economic recovery in the United States helped raise fee income by five percent for the Big Six in 1994. In addition, Coopers & Lybrand expanded its presence in Russia; in Moscow alone the firm employed 250 people by 1995. Price Waterhouse also grew in Russia and Eastern Europe, counting almost 1,000 employees there by 1994. The most important factor in their growth was successful expansion of consulting services in the United States. Both companies focused on providing services to certain industries, becoming specialists in those areas. Coopers & Lybrand primarily advised clients in pharmaceutical, insurance, and telecommunications industries, whereas Price Waterhouse specialized in banking, media and entertainment, and oil and gas industries.
The 1998 Merger
Price Waterhouse made yet another attempt at a merger in 1997 and came to an agreement with Coopers & Lybrand. Although the merger was voted in by the 3,250 Price Waterhouse partners and the 5,250 Coopers & Lybrand partners, the merger met some opposition from the companies' clients and financial regulators. Christopher Pearce, finance director of Rentokil and chairman of a group representing FTSE 100 companies' finance directors, told the Economist that the mergers will "reduce the choice for auditing services and increase the conflicts of interest.'
These concerns and those of financial regulators looking at conflicts of interest between consulting and auditing branches of the companies did not stand in the way of the merger, which was completed in 1998. The combination of the fourth and sixth largest of the Big Six firms resulted in a new industry leader in terms of size and revenues, with approximately 13,000 employees and revenues estimated at $12 billion. In the area of management consulting, the merger created little overlap because the two founding firms specialized in separate industries. It resulted in combined revenue of $1.6 billion, making the new PricewaterhouseCoopers second only to Arthur Andersen in consulting income. Nicholas G. Moore, chairman of Coopers & Lybrand International, became the chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers, and James J. Schiro, chief executive officer of Price Waterhouse, became the CEO of PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Revenues for the newly forged company were $15.3 billion in 1998. The company continued to grow, acquiring several European consulting firms in the first half of 1999, including the France-based SV&GM Group, the Italian consulting firm Galgan & Merli, and Belgium-based KPMG Consulting. To support its rapid growth, the PricewaterhouseCoopers launched a brand positioning ad campaign in 1999 designed to attract new employees.
OVERALL
Beta: 0.91
Market Cap (Mil.): $186.06
Shares Outstanding (Mil.): 3.90
Annual Dividend: 0.63
Yield (%): 1.33
Statistics:
Private Company
Incorporated: 1898 as Lybrand, Ross Bros. & Montgomery; 1865 as Price and Waterhouse
Employees: 140,000
Sales: $15.3 billion (1998)
NAIC: 541211 Offices of Certified Public Accountants
Address:
1251 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York 10020
U.S.A.
It has offices in 757 cities across 154 countries and employs over 161,000 people.It had total revenues of $26.6 billion in 2010, of which $13 billion was generated by its Assurance practice, $7 billion by its Tax practice and $6 billion by its Advisory practice.
The firm was formed in 1998 by a merger between Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand. The trading name was shortened to PwC in September 2010 as part of a major rebranding exercise.
As of 2010 it was the seventh-largest privately-owned organisation in the United States.
The international partnership of PricewaterhouseCoopers is the largest accounting and business consultancy firm in the world. With approximately 140,000 employees in 150 countries in 1999, the company offers auditing services, tax and legal advice, financial advice, business process outsourcing, and management consulting services. The partnership was created in 1998 from the merger of two Big Six accounting firms: Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand.
PowerShares Dynamic Market Portfolio (the Fund) seeks investment results that correspond to the price and yield of an equity index called the Dynamic Market Intellidex Index (the Market Intellidex). The Market Intellidex consists of 100 United States stocks selected each quarter by the AMEX (the Intellidex Provider).
The PowerShares Dynamic Market Portfolio bases its stock selection, portfolio management, and asset allocation decisions on an enhanced index called the Dynamic Market Intellidex Index. The Fund utilizes a direct index replication method.
Both Coopers & Lybrand and Price Waterhouse gradually increased their emphasis on consulting in the 1990s. Auditing was proving risky and expensive, as the Big Six were being held liable for the failure of companies they audited and induced into paying huge settlements. In 1992 Coopers & Lybrand settled a suit brought against it by the investors of MiniScribe, a disk-drive maker that went bankrupt. Fighting against claims that they should have caught the company's fraud, Coopers & Lybrand eventually agreed to pay investors $92 million. In another fraud-related case, the firm made large payments in 1996 to settle claims regarding failed companies in the media empire of the deceased Robert Maxwell. The accounting firm was fined by regulators in 1999 for their failure to detect Maxwell's fraudulent transfer of $650 million from a company pension fund to himself. Among other payments was Coopers & Lybrand's expensive settlement related to their auditing of Phar-Mor pharmacies, bankrupt in the mid-1990s.
Price Waterhouse had their own legal troubles in the 1990s. A protracted battle over the company's audit of Bank of Credit and Commerce International ended in 1995 with a payment of $200 million, significantly less than the $11 billion sought by the creditors of the collapsed bank. In addition to hefty settlements, the suits led to soaring insurance costs for the accounting firms. By the mid-1990s, many insurers refused to even cover the auditing practices of the Big Six firms, forcing Coopers & Lybrand and Price Waterhouse to set aside money to cover themselves.
Several factors led to growth in fee income for Coopers & Lybrand and Price Waterhouse in the mid-1990s. An economic recovery in the United States helped raise fee income by five percent for the Big Six in 1994. In addition, Coopers & Lybrand expanded its presence in Russia; in Moscow alone the firm employed 250 people by 1995. Price Waterhouse also grew in Russia and Eastern Europe, counting almost 1,000 employees there by 1994. The most important factor in their growth was successful expansion of consulting services in the United States. Both companies focused on providing services to certain industries, becoming specialists in those areas. Coopers & Lybrand primarily advised clients in pharmaceutical, insurance, and telecommunications industries, whereas Price Waterhouse specialized in banking, media and entertainment, and oil and gas industries.
The 1998 Merger
Price Waterhouse made yet another attempt at a merger in 1997 and came to an agreement with Coopers & Lybrand. Although the merger was voted in by the 3,250 Price Waterhouse partners and the 5,250 Coopers & Lybrand partners, the merger met some opposition from the companies' clients and financial regulators. Christopher Pearce, finance director of Rentokil and chairman of a group representing FTSE 100 companies' finance directors, told the Economist that the mergers will "reduce the choice for auditing services and increase the conflicts of interest.'
These concerns and those of financial regulators looking at conflicts of interest between consulting and auditing branches of the companies did not stand in the way of the merger, which was completed in 1998. The combination of the fourth and sixth largest of the Big Six firms resulted in a new industry leader in terms of size and revenues, with approximately 13,000 employees and revenues estimated at $12 billion. In the area of management consulting, the merger created little overlap because the two founding firms specialized in separate industries. It resulted in combined revenue of $1.6 billion, making the new PricewaterhouseCoopers second only to Arthur Andersen in consulting income. Nicholas G. Moore, chairman of Coopers & Lybrand International, became the chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers, and James J. Schiro, chief executive officer of Price Waterhouse, became the CEO of PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Revenues for the newly forged company were $15.3 billion in 1998. The company continued to grow, acquiring several European consulting firms in the first half of 1999, including the France-based SV&GM Group, the Italian consulting firm Galgan & Merli, and Belgium-based KPMG Consulting. To support its rapid growth, the PricewaterhouseCoopers launched a brand positioning ad campaign in 1999 designed to attract new employees.
OVERALL
Beta: 0.91
Market Cap (Mil.): $186.06
Shares Outstanding (Mil.): 3.90
Annual Dividend: 0.63
Yield (%): 1.33
Statistics:
Private Company
Incorporated: 1898 as Lybrand, Ross Bros. & Montgomery; 1865 as Price and Waterhouse
Employees: 140,000
Sales: $15.3 billion (1998)
NAIC: 541211 Offices of Certified Public Accountants
Address:
1251 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York 10020
U.S.A.