Big four firm PwC joins EOA after continued growth of the EOT model

PwC has joined the EOA after seeing the continued growth of businesses becoming employee owned via an employee ownership trust (EOT).

As one of the big four professional services firms, the business sees the relevance of employee ownership after seeing the sector’s continued strong growth despite the pandemic.

PwC has been involved in a number of EOT transactions including advising on tax, valuations, structuring, modelling, legal, debt advisory, employee communications and governance.

The values of the sector are seen as a great fit with PWC’s purpose to “build trust in society and solve important problems”.

More than 50% of the growth in the employee ownership sector has been since 2017 with both 2019 and 2020 being bumper years, with this trend expected to continue.

An additional surge in the sector early in 2021 has been linked to uncertainty around Capital Gains Tax, which is waived for founders selling to an EOT, after a consultation was launched by the Office of Tax Simplification.

The PwC EOT team is led by Dan Harris supported by Sue Wilson, Andy Nealey, Lizzie Bowdler and Kate Pargetor amongst others.

Deb Oxley, Chief Executive of the EOA, said:

“We welcome PwC to the EOA and look forward to working with them to support both the growth of, and evolution of good practice in, the sector.

“PwC is the second of the big four to join the EOA, which is a reflection of the growth in the sector and the regard for the relevance of employee ownership in providing more resilient employment with better reward, while rooting jobs in regions for the longer term.”

Dan Harris, partner at PwC, said:

“We look forward to being part of the EOA network. There has been a surge in employee ownership transactions via an EOT and it is clear to see how employee-owned businesses are likely to thrive and become even more prevalent in a post pandemic world.

“At PwC we are a multi-disciplinary firm (including tax, legal debt advisory and valuations amongst others ) with offices around the world that can help both the transition to becoming an EOT owned business and then to ensure such businesses flourish in the future.”