Price Waterhouse

Price Waterhouse
PricewaterhouseCoopers · Public domain · source
Name	Price Waterhouse
Type	Partnership
Fate	Merged with Coopers & Lybrand (1998)
Successor	PricewaterhouseCoopers
Founded	1849 (Price); 1865 (Waterhouse)
Founder	Samuel Lowell Price; William Hopkins Holyland; Edwin Waterhouse
Defunct	1998 (merger)
Headquarters	London, United Kingdom; New York City, United States
Area served	Global
Industry	Professional services

Price Waterhouse was a multinational professional services network that, before its 1998 merger, was one of the largest accounting and consulting firms operating across Europe, North America, Asia, Africa, and the Pacific. Its practitioners provided auditing, tax, advisory, and actuarial services to corporations, financial institutions, governments, and non-profit organizations. The firm developed notable practices and personnel who influenced developments in corporate reporting, regulatory responses to financial crises, and international standards-setting.

History

Price Waterhouse traces origins to separate nineteenth-century firms: the accounting practice formed by Samuel Lowell Price in London and the firm associated with Edwin Waterhouse and William Hopkins Holyland. Over decades the firms expanded through mergers and acquisitions across United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, India, and South Africa. In the twentieth century the network competed with contemporaries such as Arthur Andersen, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, and Coopers & Lybrand in client services for multinational corporations like General Electric, IBM, and ExxonMobil. The firm engaged with institutions including the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and national regulators during post-war reconstruction and later globalization. Key episodes included involvement in auditing public companies listed on exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange, and participation in professional bodies like the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. By the late twentieth century, the firm’s cross-border alliances reflected increasing convergence of accounting standards around frameworks discussed at forums such as the International Accounting Standards Committee.

Services and Practice Areas

Price Waterhouse offered a range of service lines typical of the large accounting networks. Audit and assurance teams worked with clients subject to oversight by regulators including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Services Authority (UK), while tax practices advised on international taxation matters involving treaties such as the Double Taxation Convention frameworks and engagements with revenue agencies like the Internal Revenue Service. The firm’s advisory and consulting arms provided services in management consulting, merger due diligence for deals involving corporations like AT&T and Siemens, risk management consulting relevant to institutions such as Bank of America and Deutsche Bank, and systems integration projects involving vendors like Oracle Corporation and SAP SE. Price Waterhouse maintained actuarial and pension consulting advising schemes referenced by bodies such as the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and advised governments on privatization initiatives similar to those in United Kingdom and Chile. Forensic accounting teams supported litigation and arbitration involving tribunals such as the International Chamber of Commerce and advised law firms engaged in corporate disputes.

Major Engagements and Controversies

Throughout its history the firm was associated with high-profile corporate audits and consequential controversies. Engagements included auditing multinational conglomerates and participating in public offerings on the NASDAQ and cross-border restructuring around events like insolvencies of prominent companies comparable to Enron-era scrutiny. The firm faced professional and regulatory challenges related to audit quality and independence, with inquiries from bodies such as the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board model and national courts in cases analogous to litigation involving Lehman Brothers and other failed institutions. Price Waterhouse professionals appeared as expert witnesses in proceedings before venues such as the United States Court of Appeals and tribunals hearing securities class actions. Controversies prompted debates at standards-setting organizations like the International Federation of Accountants and fed into legislative responses in jurisdictions debating reforms similar to the Sarbanes–Oxley Act.

Corporate Structure and Global Presence

Structured as a partnership network, Price Waterhouse operated through member firms in national markets including Japan, Germany, France, Brazil, Mexico, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Nigeria. Governance featured a global board and country-level senior partners with practice leadership coordinating across regions via committees akin to those used by peers such as KPMG. The network maintained regional headquarters in financial centers including New York City, London, Hong Kong, and Sydney and staffed multi-disciplinary teams that interfaced with multinational clients and supranational organizations like the European Commission. The firm invested in professional education and affiliations with universities such as Harvard University, London School of Economics, University of Tokyo, and University of Cape Town to recruit graduates and develop technical guidance aligned with pronouncements from bodies like the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board.

Merger with Coopers & Lybrand and Legacy

In 1998 Price Waterhouse merged with Coopers & Lybrand to form PricewaterhouseCoopers, a combination with strategic aims comparable to past consolidations among Big Five firms. The merger integrated client portfolios, expanded global reach into markets where Coopers & Lybrand had strength, and consolidated service lines to compete with networks such as Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and Arthur Andersen (then). The legacy of Price Waterhouse persists in professional standards, senior alumni who moved into leadership roles at corporations like Ford Motor Company and institutions such as Bank of England, and in archival contributions to accounting history preserved in collections at repositories including the British Library and university archives at Columbia University.

Category:Accounting firms Category:Defunct companies of the United Kingdom