2024 marked 175 years since Samuel Price set up as a sole trading accountant. This began PwC’s journey to becoming a leading professional services firm, with today's diverse 370,000-strong community of solvers across 149 countries.
Constantly innovating and transforming - always with trust and quality at our core - our story is one that brings sustained outcomes to shifting industries, geographies and cultures. Our history propels us forward as a human-led, tech powered business, ready to help our clients embrace the challenges of the future.
175 years of answering the biggest questions faced by our clients: from building trust to addressing their climate impact and proving the progress they are making.
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Milestones in motion: Celebrating 175 years of PwC
Watch our journey from 1849 to now, revisiting pivotal moments that have shaped the firm.
A focus on
Take a deeper dive into our rich history and gain unique insights into our legacy.
175 years of community impact
Reflecting on how our work with schools, theatres and environmental and health charities, among others, has evolved through the years.
Explore our archives
Old ledgers, clocks, typewriters and photo albums are just some of the items in the extensive PwC archive. To mark our 175th anniversary, we're selecting some of our favourite artefacts embodying our identity and purpose, and delving into their history.
Perspectives from the past
We are shining a spotlight on some of our alumni and how they have shaped and contributed to PwC’s history. These profiles offer a glimpse into the diverse talents and accomplishments that have defined our legacy, and who we are today.
Our history
By the firm's archivist, Ben Sharratt
Thousands of clients, hundreds of offices, dozens of mergers and countless talented people define the history of PwC.
From Samuel Lowell Price’s one-room office at 5 Gresham Street in Dickensian London, the firm has evolved to span the globe and become a respected voice not just in professional services but in areas ranging from climate change to technology.
Truth and fairness were at the heart of the firm’s purpose in the mid-19th century, when clients in a rapidly changing industrial landscape sought greater assurance and accounting expertise.
Being ‘tech-enabled’ in 1849 meant pen, ink, leather-bound ledgers and candle-light. As the decades passed, the importance of technology on our ability to provide quality client service continued to grow. The telephone, the typewriter, the calculator and, of course, the computer are some of the essential tools of the trade that have underpinned the skill and judgement of our people.
Today we don’t merely draw on that technology to do what we do; we mould and create it to achieve the best results for the firm, our clients and our communities.
Our journey has, of course, not been without its challenges. In 1849 London was in the grip of a cholera epidemic. There have been stock market crashes, recessions, two World Wars, numerous geo-political situations and a global pandemic, the effects of which are still being felt by business and society. Globalisation has demanded new approaches and the diversity of our workforce continues to be a work in progress.
To negotiate these challenges we have had to learn to change with the times. Samuel Price did so by forming a partnership with Edwin Waterhouse and William Holyland in 1865. Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand did so by merging in 1998. Arguably, we have seen more evolution in the last 25 years than in the previous 150 - which is why this is such an exciting time for the firm, our clients and our communities.
Highlights from our history
1854
Cooper Brothers is headquartered at 14 George Street, London and remains there for the next 105 years
1904
The first UK office outside London is opened in Liverpool
1914-1918
Women are employed by the firm to fill the positions of men serving during the First World War
1975
Price Waterhouse turns City tradition upside down by moving south of the river into Southwark Towers – today the site of The Shard
1998
Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand merge to form PwC
2009
PwC UK forms a Strategic Alliance with the Middle-East firm
2024
PwC marks its 175th birthday on 24 December
“A firm grows not only by reason of the industry of its partners and staff, but also because its clients grow and set new standards to which it must adapt.”
Former Board member Donald Chilvers
“There is something truly special about this firm. Whether you stay, leave or retire, you are always a PwC person.”
Sir Ian Powell, former Senior Partner
"Our people make our firm inspirational. They attract and retain the brightest and best talent we need to help our clients create the value they’re looking for, and they’re the reason I look forward to coming to work every day."
Kevin Ellis, former Senior Partner
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