Professional services firm PwC has reported revenue of $1.65 billion in the Middle East and Africa for the 12 months ending June 30 (FY19), as against $1.55 billion for FY18, marking a growth of 8.7 per cent at constant exchange rates.

Across Asia, revenues grew by 9 per cent, while in Australasia and the Pacific, PwC enjoyed another strong year with revenues rising by 10 per cent.

Globally, PwC firms had gross revenues of US$42.4 billion – up 7 per cent in local currency and 4 per cent in US dollars. Revenues grew across all lines of business and major markets, boosted by the power of the PwC brand and continued significant investments in quality, technology and people, a PwC statement said.

“As our clients face increasing challenges and opportunities driven by technological advances, stakeholder expectations and other changes, they require us to work together across the broad range of our operations helping them to deal with issues such as cyber security, trust, regulation and strategic workforce planning. And as a result, our business is growing rapidly in these areas to meet increased client demand,” the statement added.

“Over the past year, we’ve continued to focus on delivering value to our stakeholders, working hard to build trust and help our clients solve their most complex problems,” said Bob Moritz, PwC’s Global chairman.

“As a result, PwC businesses grew in all major markets around the world. Our strong growth in revenues has enabled us to continue to invest in our businesses and our people. Investments in technology are making our services more relevant and enhancing the quality of our work.

“PwC firms now employ 276,000 people worldwide and are investing heavily in learning and development to ensure our people can build rewarding careers and are prepared for the future world of work.”

In the Americas, revenues were up by 5 per cent compared with 4 per cent the prior year, with a particularly strong performance from operations in the US and Canada, offset by some challenging economic conditions in Brazil where revenue rose by 2 per cent.

Growth in Western Europe was up by 7 per cent. In Central and Eastern Europe, revenues continued to grow strongly  -  up 10 per cent - marking the fourth consecutive year of double digit growth.

“The quality of our work across the full range of our services is incredibly important. While we are proud to have been the first of the global professional services networks to have published its internal audit quality inspection results, we know we have more to do and are operating with a continuous improvement mindset,” said Moritz.

“Both in terms of how we test, measure and enhance quality and also in the levels of investment we need to make to ensure our quality is as high as possible. We have added more detail in our Global Annual Review on audit quality and aim to increase transparency in the future.” – TradeArabia News Service