PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is kicking off the hunt for its first new UK chief in practically a decade amid rising expectations that it may appoint a feminine boss for the primary time in its 175-year historical past.
Sky News has learnt that the world’s largest accountancy agency has initiated the method by which its supervisory board – consisting of PwC companions – will oversee the set up of a successor to Kevin Ellis.
The firing of the starting-gun on the method to fill arguably probably the most prestigious job in British skilled providers has ignited inside hypothesis in regards to the identification of Mr Ellis’s substitute.
While a shortlist is not going to be recognized till April, when the election of a brand new UK chair will even happen, insiders have pointed in the direction of a number of feminine companions as credible contenders.
Among them is Marissa Thomas, the agency’s managing associate and chief working officer, and a member of its administration board since 2017.
Laura Hinton, the associate who leads PwC UK’s tax operate and likewise sits on the administration board, can also be seen as a possible candidate.
Others recognized as attainable successors to Mr Ellis embrace Hemione Hudson, the pinnacle of audit, and Marco Amitrano, the agency’s head of purchasers and markets.
Mr Ellis has served as UK chair for 2 phrases, steering PwC by a tumultuous interval together with the Brexit vote and its aftermath, and the COVID pandemic.
Although it stays extraordinarily worthwhile, with companions having fun with common seven-figure annual pay packages, PwC has not been proof against broader pressures on the trade, and final November introduced tons of of job cuts in response to market headwinds.
Like its ‘massive 4’ friends Deloitte, EY and KPMG, it has additionally been grappling with rising political and regulatory stress on the longer term construction of the audit occupation following a wave of high-profile company collapses.
PwC has been fined for a string of audit failings, most notably in relation to Arcadia, the previous excessive road clothes empire of Sir Philip Green.
A PwC spokeswoman mentioned: “The process begins this month and final candidates will be known in April.”
Source: information.sky.com”