Our history

PwC - a success story dating back more than 160 years

We help companies today so that they will continue to be successful in the future. To achieve this, PwC can draw upon experience gained from more than 160 years of company history.

1849 The auditor Samuel Lowell Price opens a law firm in London.   

1854 William Cooper establishes his own business in London, which seven years later becomes Cooper Brothers.

1865 Price, Holyland and Waterhouse join forces in partnership.

1874 The name changes to Price, Waterhouse & Co.

1898 Robert H. Montgomery, William M. Lybrand, Adam A. Ross Jr. and his brother T. Edward Ross form Lybrand, Ross Brothers and Montgomery.

1957 Cooper Brothers & Co (UK), McDonald, Currie and Co (Canada) and Lybrand, Ross Bros & Montgomery (US) merge to form Coopers & Lybrand.

1982 Price Waterhouse World Firm is launched.

1990 Schweizerische Revisionsgesellschaft (set up in 1912) merges with Price Waterhouse in Switzerland.

1991 Schweizerische Treuhandgesellschaft (set up in 1906) merges with Coopers & Lybrand in Switzerland.

1998 Worldwide merger of Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand to create PricewaterhouseCoopers.

2002 PricewaterhouseCoopers completes the sale of its management consulting department, PwC Consulting, to IBM.

2005 PricewaterhouseCoopers sells Actuarial Benefits & Insurance Solutions to Swisscanto.

2008 Tenth anniversary of the PricewaterhouseCoopers' merger.

2014 In April, PwC merges with the global consulting firm Booz & Company.