According to media reports, the partners of the auditing and consulting firm PwC have chosen the head of the auditing division, Petra Justenhoven, to be their new boss in Germany.

On the occasion of the presentation of its figures for the past financial year on Tuesday, however, the company did not comment on these top personnel when asked.

PwC referred to committee processes that have yet to be passed through.

Only then will the results be communicated.

The company also did not comment on the tax raid last week, which overshadowed the meeting of the partners for the boss election.

Mark Fehr

Editor in business.

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Meanwhile, the incumbent Germany boss Ulrich Störk together with Joachim Englert, the head of the PwC business area management consulting, gave an overview of the developments in the financial year from July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021. According to this, the largest German auditing and consulting company in In an environment strongly influenced by the pandemic, their sales could increase slightly by 1.5 percent to 2.39 billion euros.

However, it should be noted that PwC has adjusted the currently reported figures for travel expenses so that they are not distorted by the corona pandemic.

The background to this is a peculiarity in the business of auditing and consulting companies, which usually show their travel expenses as part of sales.

Auditors and consultants travel a lot, so travel expenses make up a significant part of sales in normal times.

Corona-adjusted sales up 9.5 percent

Because there are almost no business trips during the corona pandemic, this effect would cause sales to collapse, although business continues to be made and sales are made - just without travel expenses.

PwC has therefore added the travel expenses that are usually incurred to the reported business figures in order to make it easier to compare them with the figures from previous years.

This is particularly noticeable in the rapidly growing business area with management consulting.

Corona-adjusted sales rose here by 9.5 percent to 970 million euros, while without corona adjustment, growth of only 1.6 percent to 900 million euros was recorded.

The classic auditing division, on the other hand, collapsed by 6.7 percent to 783 million euros, even after adjustment.

PwC justified the decline in auditing with one-off effects. This means that there are often strong fluctuations when clients switch to another auditor. But PwC has also won large companies as audit customers, such as Deutsche Börse, Continental and DZ Bank. In addition, Telekom extended its contract. The business with tax advice and legal advice grew only slightly by 1.7 percent to 579 million euros. Without adjustment, growth in this division was only 0.7 percent.

Despite the mixed numbers, PwC Germany boss Ulrich Störk described the past financial year as “very successful”. The company has consolidated its position as the market leader in Germany. For comparison: The competitor Deloitte recorded an 8 percent drop in sales for its past financial year, which spanned the same period as PwC. Unlike PwC, Deloitte did not adjust its figures for travel expenses and was able to increase profits despite the slump in sales. Like PwC, Deloitte did not give a specific figure for profit.

According to Störk and Englert, PwC's sales have just recovered strongly from the Corona crisis. In the area of ​​management consulting in particular, business has almost exploded. In the first four months of the current financial year, management consulting grew by 30 percent and tax and legal advice by 15 percent. According to PwC, the acceleration of the digital transformation caused by the corona pandemic is primarily boosting the consulting business. Many companies were radically reorganized or created from scratch, using the services of PwC.

In view of the strong growth, PwC confirmed, as already announced, that it will take on 10,000 new employees by the 2024 financial year.

However, the company has to fight hard for the coveted skilled workers.

The cybersecurity division, for example, which helps companies to protect themselves from hackers and other digital attackers, is to be expanded significantly.

PwC wants to achieve a turnover of 100 million euros here by 2024.