PwC China announces RMB 8 billion investment over the next five years, creating over 20,000 new jobs

PwC China helps clients build trust and drive sustained outcomes. This is The New Equation

• Investing ¥8B (US$1.25B) and creating 20,000 new jobs over the next five years
• Rapidly digitising and extending services to meet the complex challenges facing businesses and society
• Prioritising investments in five strategic areas critical to PwC’s clients–Digital Redesign; Digital Products and Solutions; Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG); Regional Economic Clusters; and Workforce of the Future
• Building the PwC Asia Pacific Trust Leadership Institute in Sanya, Hainan province, to help leaders successfully navigate the new era
• Creating smart green offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and other cities, and accelerating PwC’s cultural, digital and low-carbon transformation

Beijing, 5 November 2021 - PwC China today unveils its plan for “The New Equation” strategy on the first day of the 4th China International Import Expo (CIIE). It will invest RMB 8 billion in China over the next five years, rapidly expanding its use of emerging technologies, and extending all its services to meet the complex challenges facing businesses and society. In particular, it will prioritise investments in five key strategic areas that are critical to every client in today’s dynamic environment –Digital Redesign; Digital Products and Solutions; Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG); Regional Economic Clusters; and Workforce of the Future. It will empower its people to unleash their potential and co-create solutions with clients to overcome the challenges its clients are facing in the new era.

2021 marks the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan. Guided by the Plan and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035, China is fully committed to fostering a new development paradigm. It will build a Digital China, accelerate green development to realise its dual 30·60 carbon goals, and drive high-quality development towards a sustainable future. Faced with these unprecedented and historic opportunities, organisations need to react with agility and fundamentally shift their digital transformation, organisational culture, and sustainability ambitions. Their success depends on creating a virtuous circle between earning trust and delivering sustained outcomes.

“China continues to perform remarkably well despite ongoing global challenges. PwC is a purpose-led organisation. In line with that purpose, and with our New Equation strategy, we will continue to support and contribute to China’s major national strategies to drive towards an enduring outcome of continued growth and development for its economy. We will create over 20,000 new jobs by 2026 as part of our efforts to scale up in a number of strategically important areas, including ESG and digital. We believe these areas will drive China’s future growth,” says Raymund Chao, PwC Asia Pacific and China Chairman.  

“PwC China is dedicated to helping clients to grasp the big opportunities under China’s new development paradigm. We are bringing the best of our people, capabilities and technologies together to support our clients and stakeholders in building trust and delivering sustained outcomes for their businesses and also for the society in which we all operate,” adds Mr. Chao. 

Rapidly digitising and extending services to meet its clients’ complex challenges, prioritising investments in five strategic areas

PwC China is committed to professionalism and providing high-quality services. The Chinese Institute of Certified Public Accountants (CICPA), again ranked PwC China first on its ‘Top 100 accounting firms in 2020’, the eighteenth consecutive year of being number one. Looking forward, PwC China will continue its strategy of being human-led and tech-powered, and rapidly expand its use of cloud, artificial intelligence, blockchain, big data, and other emerging technologies in its assurance, tax, and advisory practices. It is combining its deep industry and technical expertise to help its clients create new value as they access the capital markets, respond to cyber security, build resilience in their value chains, and achieve greater value creation from their transactions.

Additionally, in light of the 14th Five-Year Plan, PwC China will focus on bringing to life a suite of five critical investments in the areas at the top of CEOs strategic agendas:

• Digital Redesign: Change is happening at a rate never before witnessed. Businesses need new operating models that enable digital transformation of the entire organisation and achieve rapid profitable growth to break ahead of the pack in today’s fiercely competitive market. PwC integrates industry insights, digital capabilities, alliances with digital pioneers, and practical experiences to help companies achieve their strategic priorities. From strategy through execution, innovation to profitability, organisation design of culture, operations, finance, and tax, PwC enables end-to-end transformations.
• Digital Products and Solutions: PwC China combines unparalleled insights, cutting-edge technology, and human-centred design with dedicated digital expertise to build innovative digital products. It navigates the regulatory, technology, data and cloud landscape in China to confidently deploy digital products to its clients.
• ESG: ESG sustainability is reshaping the future. It is imperative to set actionable sustainability goals for regulators, enterprises, academics and individuals. PwC is accelerating the integration of ESG across all functions and creating value for corporations. PwC leverages digital tools to help create the trust and outcomes its clients are demanding and is cultivating leaders and building unified goals and culture, essential in promoting societal sustainable development in a cohesive manner.
• Regional Economic Clusters: Regional economic clusters are an important part of China's 14th Five-Year Plan. The cluster strategy is conducive to breaking through limitations and barriers, driving the coordinated development of cities with their surrounding city clusters, and promoting common prosperity. PwC China is enabling urban resilience, activating new growth, and promoting regional economic clusters. PwC provides a full suite of services for the planning, development and upgrading of regional economic clusters, including improving infrastructure and ecological environment, and optimising public services and industrial development. PwC continues to help the construction and development of many regional economic clusters such as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta region, and the Greater Bay Area, thus driving the take-off of the national economy.  

• Workforce of the Future: PwC China is building an agile, market-centric and digitally-savvy workforce to enable differentiated value for its clients. The imperative to shape a workforce that is fit for the future will strengthen PwC’s capability to create holistic solutions that integrate digital and human insight for its clients. PwC places people at the centre of its workforce transformation. From career models, upskilling opportunities, to workspace design, PwC is reimagining every step of its workforce approach, creating the platform for its people to thrive personally and professionally.

Accelerating PwC China’s transformation, and reimagining the future together with its clients

PwC China’s multidisciplinary model is the foundation of The New Equation strategy. PwC is continuing to bring the best of its people, evolving its ways of working and upskilling its teams to expand their capabilities in the areas that matter most for their future and unleash their potential. This will not only improve the quality and high value-add to its clients, but also promotes the sustainable development of the professional services industry, an enabler to China’s new development pattern.

As an important part of PwC’s innovation, it is building the PwC Asia Pacific Trust Leadership Institute in Sanya, Hainan. This institute will bring an immersive learning experience to life through both physical and virtual connectivity, focusing on sustainability, digital innovation, wellness, and mobility. It will become the creative hub to educate, advise and fulfil the changing needs of businesses, leaders, academics, and the next generation of talent. It will act as a trusted platform between PwC’s clients, the business community and society to create impactful outcomes for the new era.

PwC China is also continuing to invest in accelerating its own digitalised and low-carbon transformation for a more digital and green future. Last year, PwC, as the industry leader, made a pioneering world-wide commitment to achieve Net Zero emissions by 2030 and continue to lead by example on sustainable development. PwC opened its office in Wuxi this July, making it the 28th PwC branch in China. This marks an important step in its strategy in the Yangtze River Delta integration, and further boosts PwC’s commitment to the community and regional sustainable development.

To ensure digital and sustainable ways of working, PwC China is building smart green offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, among other offices. One year after the launch of the PwC Lab in Beijing, its Shanghai office space has undergone a strategic transformation, including expansion to Qiantan, a new landmark in Shanghai. PwC’s strategic office upgrades will create intelligent, innovative and people-centric workplaces, offering an unprecedented environment for collaboration and transformation, helping it create greater value together for its clients.

PwC China continues to be guided by its purpose of “building trust in society and solving important problems", and will work together with governments, businesses and stakeholders to build trust and deliver sustained outcomes.

Note to editors

For more on The New Equation, please visit:
www.pwccn.com/en/the-new-equation.html