Our lines of service

What do we do?

Our Audit teams work for both global companies and those operating exclusively in Switzerland. We have clients in all industries and distinguish between two areas: Financial Services and Industrial Services. These companies prepare their financial statements in accordance with either Swiss (Swiss Code of Obligations, Swiss GAAP FER) or international (IFRS, US GAAP) standards.

Auditing clients is a challenging undertaking that demands soft skills in addition to a mastery of the numbers and the relevant rules and regulations. We examine the individual balance sheet and income statement items, notes and proposed appropriation of profit by means of analyses, spot checks, document reconciliations and control audits. Regulatory audits are also an important part of our work for clients in the banking sector.

But as already mentioned, it’s not just about crunching the numbers. Discussions with senior executives, analysing internal regulations and control documentation, as well as spot checks, are also part of a toolkit that enables us to get a deep and comprehensive insight into our clients’ business activities and control environment.

What are your responsibilities as a career starter?

As you’ll be involved in a variety of projects and engagements from the start, this is a great opportunity to get to know a wide range of clients. While it’s true that auditing is basically a seasonal profession, there’s plenty of interesting work to keep you on your toes outside “busy season” as well.

In the autumn of the year you start out you’ll be helping carry out interim audits and getting your first taste of work on site with clients. So by the time the main audit season kicks off at the beginning of January, you’ll already have some experience and an idea of what’s required. In the course of the audit you’ll be responsible for auditing a wide range of balance sheet and income statement items. Depending on the size and scope of the engagement, this is a unique chance to gain insights into the complex world of your client organisations.

What about the development opportunities?

If you embark on a career in audit you’ll automatically start the four-year Expert Suisse training programme to become a Swiss Certified Public Accountant (CPA) – with support, funding and paid study leave from PwC. You can find out more about the training opportunities here.

What do we do?

Digital Assurance basically involves analysing and optimising our clients’ business and IT processes to help them create sustainable value for a digital future. This is urgent, critical and very exciting work: digital transformation is here, and companies that delay embracing new technologies will be left behind.

Our job boils down to building trust: helping clients understand the advantages – not just the risks – new technologies offer, and giving them the knowledge and confidence to trust brilliant minds to drive their tech transformation.

Our work at PwC Digital Assurance in Switzerland ranges from large-scale business and IT transformations to digitalisation of business records management and tech-enabled audits. We guide digital transformation from analysis to strategy, from preparation to implementation.

What are your responsibilities as a career starter?

Your job in Digital Assurance involves applying the latest and most advanced analysis, process control and automation techniques to carry out technology-supported audits. You’ll be working with our clients to develop innovative solutions to specific problems. From the outset you’ll be gaining the business and technical skills, knowledge and experience required for a career within Digital Assurance.

This is a unique opportunity to learn about all aspects of business, from financial reporting to the supporting tech: you’ll be gaining deep insights into our clients' industry, people and management, as well as their financial activities and technologies.

What about the development opportunities?

Your role in Digital Assurance is to establish the link between finance and IT, so a crucial part of your training will involve learning to understand and test business and IT processes and the relevant controls, conduct technology-supported audits, and use the latest advanced data analysis, process control and automation tools.

If you choose to work in Digital Assurance, you’ll embark on training to become a Certified Information System Auditor (CISA) – with support, funding and paid study leave from PwC.

What do we do?

Our Zurich-based Investor Reporting team is dedicated to building trust in the investment management process. Basically this means helping investment managers address mounting challenges emerging from a variety of rapid developments: clients and stakeholders demanding transparent presentation of returns and risks and assurance of the investment management process; institutional investors, private banking clients and alternative investors requiring compliance with the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS®); and regulators scrutinising investment risk management and the benchmarks used in financial products. Our ultimate aim is to give managers, investors and regulators the confidence that investment risks and returns are managed, measured and reported effectively and transparently.

Our services focus on the following areas: assurance on investment processes and related controls; investment performance assurance; investment risk management; and investor transparency.

What are your responsibilities as a career starter?

You’ll be working on various assurance engagements at investment managers involving the focus areas mentioned above. Your role will include assuming responsibility for individual project tasks assigned to you, including interacting directly with clients, gathering and analysing information, and preparing findings and results for our reports. You’ll also be supporting our internal valuation desk by doing valuations of investment portfolios using our financial data providers and by interacting with PwC’s audit teams from all over Switzerland.

What about the development opportunities?

You’ll be learning a lot on the job, climbing a steep learning curve on your way to the next level. But you’ll also receive plenty of formal training and guidance. For one thing you’ll have an assigned coach to support your personal development and work with you to plan and actualise your professional growth within PwC. You’ll also be expected to embark on the Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA®) Programme, the professional qualification that we encourage all our team members to attain – with support, funding and paid study leave from PwC.

What do we do?

In consulting we help our clients find the right strategy for their business – in Switzerland and abroad. We draw on sound knowledge and consulting experience to respond to their needs, identify trends and work with them to develop a successful long-term plan. Our services fall under three main categories: Management Consulting, Risk Consulting and Technology Consulting. 

What do we do? 

First, our internal audit projects range from supporting boards and internal audit departments to set up their internal audit function and giving external quality assessments as independent specialists to the full outsourcing and co-sourcing of internal audits, where we help clients in determining if they have the right business processes and controls in place to manage their risks.

In addition, we optimise the impact of internal audit with our data analytics and digital solutions, providing greater insights and allowing clients to make even better business decisions. This transforms internal audit into a true support for the organisation to meet its objectives, making processes more effective, controls more reliable and ultimately increasing efficiency.

Within the second area - Governance, Risk and Compliance - we support our clients in challenging and transforming their governance and compliance frameworks. We help boards and senior management identifying, prioritising and assessing risks impacting the organisation to create a clear risk map for developing mitigation strategies, that are tailored to the company’s size, maturity level and risk appetite. But that’s not all! We support our clients in optimising their Internal Control Systems for their key financial and operational processes as well as help them in evolving their Enterprise Risk Management methodologies, policies and procedures. Other “hot topics” that regularly come to the table are whistleblowing, breaches of code of conduct and abuse of power.

What are your responsibilities as a career starter?

Be ready to learn a lot of new things! By working on multiple projects your tasks in the team are very diverse and exciting. We work together as a team and you will get plenty of support! Your buddy is supporting you in all different areas of work and is, together with your coach, your personal go-to person. In addition, you will be coached by your experienced colleagues and will have the opportunity to work in various subject areas. Later, you can decide in which sector and work area you would like to focus in. As a new joiner you will be involved in the preparation and execution of client interviews, data analysis, benchmark research and the creation of client documents. So, if you feel that you are flexible, open-minded, inquisitive and want to make an impact in our society, our team is the right one for you!

We will help you to develop personally and professionally, as everyone in our team has personalised long-term development plans which not only consist of clear professional goals but also lists relevant internal and external trainings. In addition, you will continuously enhance your technical know-how and your soft skills through on-the-job training and acquire in-depth knowledge of a wide range of industries. Of course, you will also profit from our internal PwC network and expertise by collaborating on certain projects and get to know a lot of new colleagues from different PwC departments during our various team and staff events. We can assure you, that it will be a journey full of excitement and fun!

What do we do?

As a member of the Technology Consulting Team,  we support clients transform their business through technology. As a Technology Consultant, we are mainly focused on cloud computing, extracting value from enterprise data, and securing intellectual property and systems of cyber-attacks.

What do we do?

Our Deals teams provide support and advice in relation to major corporate transactions. From succession planning for SMEs, acquisitions and sales of international groups to complex company valuations, we help companies evaluate their business and show them the opportunities and risks of a transaction. Our services fall under four main categories: Delivering Deal Value, Transaction Services, Valuation & Modelling and Corporate Finance, each of which requires people with a complex array of business and financial skills able to work under pressure in closely-knit teams.

•       Delivering Deal Value

The Delivering Deal Value (DDV) team offers three different services
Business Recovery Services (BRS): support from our BRS team is especially sought-after by clients in economically challenging phases that need support with analysing the functioning of the company, operational and financial restructuring, cost reduction, liquidity planning and rationalising corporate structures.

The Deals Strategy team’s detailed insights into many sectors make it a highly sought-after contact for a wide range of stakeholders requiring support at any phase of a deal, including pre-deal feasibility studies, commercial and vendor due diligence in the execution phase, post-deal value realisation and post-deal support.

The DDV team’s role is to realise the full value of a deal by offering complete transaction support from the beginning to the end of the transaction and helping clients with investment and sales decisions.

•       Transaction Services

The Transaction Services (TS) division supports buyer or seller parties in the financial due diligence (FDD) of the target company – in other words analysing the target’s finances independently and in their entirety. People in this team have to be able to understand one-off effects on the earnings situation of the company and, if necessary, compensate them for valuation purposes.

Buy-Side Due Diligence: Your work will revolve around analysing the financial opportunities and risks of the target company that is being considered for a merger or acquisition. In addition to an ability to evaluate the financial aspects (earnings and cash flows, balance sheets, business plans, etc.), we need a knowledge of the market conditions, operational processes and the value chain of the target company.

Vendor Assistance and Vendor Due Diligence: We support the seller by conducting an independent analysis of the financial situation of the object for sale so that they’re aware of potential problems that could have a negative impact on the sales process and have enough time to prepare for the other party’s questions. Your work might involve preparing financial fact books with information on factors that could influence the purchase price, including the historical earnings situation, net working capital, net debt and the business plan.

•       Valuation & Modelling

The Valuation & Modelling team determines the value of a company to help the client in a variety of strategic decisions and negotiations. The tasks vary widely depending on the service:
Business valuations: You’ll basically be involved in determining the value of the company using standard valuation methods and doing additional analyses to identify the factors driving this value. We also serve as independent valuation experts, for example for takeover bids. Our team also includes specialists in real estate valuation.

Creation of financial mathematical models: You’ll be involved in creating financial mathematical models specially tailored to the needs of our clients or checking the correctness and consistency of models created by third parties.
Tax valuations: You’ll be involved in tax valuations in the context of company reorganisations, transactions or transfer pricing issues – to name but a few of the typical cases. We often prepare and document valuations as an independent consultant for our clients for submission to the tax authorities.

Financial reporting valuation: A business combination often requires the revaluation of the assets and liabilities of the acquired company. We apply special valuation methods that are tailored to the object to be valued – be it a group of assets, a liability or a contingent liability. Your job may also include supporting audit colleagues with annual impairment tests.

•       Corporate Finance

We advise industrial and private equity clients on the planning and execution of complex M&A transactions. This includes succession planning, mergers, acquisitions and disposals, MBI/MBO, privatisations, financings, carve-outs, joint ventures and alliances. We support our clients throughout the entire M&A life cycle – starting by defining growth or M&A strategies, identifying potential targets or investors, and continuing through to the execution of due diligence. We are also in close contact with our clients during contract negotiations to support them in every phase as desired and maximise the potential of the transaction.

Our team focuses primarily on the mid-market in Switzerland, where we hold a leading position. This clearly distinguishes us from the investment banks and enables us to provide broad support for a manageable transaction. As a member of our team you’ll have the opportunity to gain a unique depth and breadth of experience.

What do we do?

We develop well thought-out strategies and solutions for companies to make sure they’re comprehensively protected from fraud, corruption, bribery or other forms of white-collar crime. This way we help them avert the financial and immaterial damage that could result from such incidents.

In the event of a crisis, we help them initiate an investigation quickly and in a targeted manner. This includes gathering facts that can be used in court and clarifying events with the help of data and technology. We also help companies recover quickly from a crisis and increase compliance.

What are your responsibilities as a career starter?

In our Forensic Services practice you’ll basically be helping our clients understand where they might have vulnerabilities and developing solutions to manage the risks involved. As part of the team, you'll be supporting clients with investigating potential financial crime, responding to regulatory enquiries and dealing with cybersecurity breaches, as well as providing expert advice and opinions in legal proceedings. You'll also be helping clients review and remediate systems and controls to prevent further issues.
 

What do we do?

Everything is becoming more digital, and cyber-attacks in the form of things like hacking, phishing and ransomware are becoming increasingly frequent and sophisticated. It’s crucial to make sure that information technology not only works, but above all is secure. Our team is a global leader in cybersecurity and data protection. We help our clients permanently arm themselves against cyber-attacks and continuously strengthen their systems. This also helps them build trust in a world driven by data and digital processes.

To help companies correctly assess the global threat situation and protect themselves more strongly, we’ve developed an IT security approach that covers everything from strategy and design to implementation. For this reason our role also involves topics such as business continuity management, digital identity, technical security, data protection and information security management. We are also a certified federal security service provider. Our services can be roughly divided into four areas: Strategy and Transformation, Identity and Access Management, Advanced Cyber Defence, and Data Protection and Regulatory Compliance.

What are your responsibilities as a career starter?

You’ll be part of a young, talented and dynamic Swiss Cybersecurity team devoted to helping clients of different sizes in various sectors to secure their business by providing them with digital trust in the latest technologies (Cloud, Teleworking, SAP S/4 HANA, etc). You’ll be helping with assessing the maturity of their cybersecurity capabilities by performing gap assessments against well-known security frameworks (such as NIST Cybersecurity Framework/ISO 27000), vulnerability scanning, penetration testing and/or phishing campaigns. On a project you’ll be contributing to the development of cybersecurity strategies, information security policies and awareness campaigns, as well as performing cyber risk evaluations. You’ll be advising clients on how to improve their cyber defences by implementing preventive measures or as part of a remediation programme following an incident. You’ll also get the chance to broaden your entrepreneurial skills by developing client proposals and innovative cybersecurity offerings.

What do we do?

Recognising that data has value when it becomes actionable information, our Data and Analytics team enhances the value of this strategic resource. We do this by helping organisations – including our own – to accelerate their data analytics innovation. We also help organisations solve business problems with apps and solutions which we develop – as well as helping organisations create and implement the right strategy for their data analytics goals.

We’re a diverse team of experts in the areas of machine learning, artificial intelligence, data engineering, simulation, modelling and programming. We work closely with Data Analytics teams all over the globe and our business consulting specialists to enable and create innovation for our clients. The industries we work in are as diverse as PwC’s portfolio – from financial services, pharma and life sciences to industrial products. In addition we make a major contribution to the firm’s digitalisation and the development of the services PwC offers in assurance, tax and consulting.

What are your responsibilities as a career starter?

You’ll be working on projects in areas such as predictive analytics, machine learning and strategic modelling. You’ll be preparing data for statistic modelling, supporting clients with specific analysis and consulting on the respective insights. You’ll be part of an international team with which you’ll be working closely. Together we continuously improve our processes and technical tools, and play an active part in expanding PwC’s data analytics services.

What do we do?

Our role at Corporate Tax isn’t just about helping companies meet the compliance requirements. Tax is also an important cost factor that we can help them limit by working towards a forward-looking, efficient tax margin. We advise companies operating on a national or international basis in the light of the relevant tax regulations and developments, enabling them to set up efficient structures, consider the tax effects of possible business models, and avoid tax risks. Our activities can be roughly divided into five areas: International Tax Services, Financial Services, Mergers and Acquisitions Tax, Private Client Services, and Transfer Pricing

What are your responsibilities as a career starter?

You’ll be a member of a team of tax experts advising clients (both industries and individuals) on different tax matters and helping manage challenging projects such as national and international corporate restructurings, transactions, investment fund structuring and financial services operations. You’ll also be preparing tax returns and audit tax assessments for legal entities and individuals or guiding clients through their tax planning and calculating the necessary tax provisions. Your responsibilities will include developing innovative tax strategies, optimising group structures, advising on restructuring and acquisitions, and cross-border tax planning – often in cooperation with specialists from PwC’s international network.

What about the development opportunities?

You’ll have the opportunity to complete a part-time continuing education programme to become a certified tax expert – with support, funding and paid study leave from PwC.

What do we do?

We advise companies operating on a national or international basis on their indirect tax (ITX) matters, taking account of current developments and the relevant national and international value added tax regulations. Why are indirect taxes so exciting? It’s because VAT is a consumer tax: in order to correctly assess consumption from a VAT perspective, each individual product must be analysed in detail. In the jungle of legal regulations, we help our clients work out a secure solution that will reduce their VAT risks. Our work can be roughly divided into two areas: value-added tax services (advice and compliance) and value added tax technologies and processes.

What are your responsibilities as a career starter?

You’ll be working at the interface between law and business administration in a dynamic working environment. Your tasks will be correspondingly diverse. Together with other team members you’ll be helping our clients address international and national VAT issues. This will involve assessing the client's situation from a VAT perspective (Swiss as well as EU), as well as communicating with other partner offices worldwide to clarify the assessment in the relevant country and minimise the client's risks. You’ll be writing various memos in stating our position on the VAT situation. You’ll also be supporting the team in the preparation of VAT invoices and VAT and input tax reconciliations.

Another part of your role will be writing rulings in which we ask the tax authorities for confirmation of the VAT assessment, as well as correspondence with various authorities.

What do we do?

Our People & Organisation (P&O) team covers the entire spectrum of HR consulting, dealing with all the issues relating to strategic and operational human resources management. Our tasks are diverse and exciting, involving anything from reward consulting and selecting and implementing HR cloud solutions to fundamental process changes. They can also involve questions of diversity and inclusion within the company, the entire reward and benefit strategy or making the workforce ready for the future (change and transformation management).

What are your responsibilities as a career starter?

Given that the issues in the HR sector are so numerous and exciting, your role will depend on where you start in P&O. From transformation projects for the design of remuneration systems to legal advice on migration law and problem-solving relating to questions around pension fund solutions, our team has something for everyone.

Whatever path you choose, you’ll have variety and the chance to take responsibility from an early stage. In addition to make a tangible difference for your client, you’ll be getting to know HR and its technical side.

What about the development opportunities?

Given the wide range of topics that P&O addresses, you’ll have the opportunity to move into other areas that interest you. We work internationally, so you’ll also have plenty of changing and exciting contacts with the most diverse people.

What do we do?

In the Company Administrative Services team we perform a highly diverse and varied range of tasks falling into two areas: payroll and accounting.

Payroll

In the Payroll Team we take over the complete payroll processing for our customers. This includes preparing the monthly payroll run, posting in the general ledger, and preparing the payment documents (including dispatching the pay slips). We can also take on other personnel administration tasks if required, such as writing job references, drawing up or revising contracts and regulations or managing entire entry and exit processes.

We provide these services to a very heterogeneous clientele. From regional companies to international conglomerates, everything is available in every size and complexity. We also offer various services related to employment solutions and are in great demand as a training partner.

What are your responsibilities as a career starter?

At an early stage you’ll gain a deeper insight into the varied and complex subject of wage processing. You’ll learn how to use our Abacus system and find out more about the interrelationships of the various legal areas that influence payroll. You’ll be working with modern tools and new technologies such as mobile solutions for iPad, iPhone and Android devices. Our modern solutions, which can also be operated via the internet, increase our clients’ efficiency.

As you gain confidence and assurance, you’ll be able to work on more complex topics such as international social security constellations and the processing of employee shareholdings or participate in a wide variety of projects.

Accounting

In the Accounting team we either take charge of our client’s complete accounting or reinforce their team with specialists working on a local, national or international basis. This can include support with financial accounting or periodic reporting. We also offer assistance in very specialised areas such as the transition from international to Swiss accounting standards.

What are your responsibilities as a career starter?

Your tasks within the team will be varied and you will often be working for several clients at the same time. With joint responsibility for the engagement, you’ll have frequent contact with clients and be expected to work independently. Your role will involve keeping the client’s accounts during the year and preparing the annual financial statements in cooperation with the engagement manager. To increase efficiency you’ll be working with modern tools, automation and digitalisation.

This is the ideal role if you’re interested in the different areas of accounting and are willing to work on the client's premises for a short or long-term assignment.

What do we do?

PwC Legal Switzerland offers a unique form of comprehensive legal advice. On the one hand we’re part of the global PwC Legal network which, with more than 3,200 lawyers in 90 countries, has the broadest geographical coverage of any legal practice. At the same time contribute directly to the multidisciplinary services provided to the broad client base of the leading professional services company in Switzerland and the world. This enables us to combine legal advice with expertise in strategy, taxes, deals, consulting and auditing from a single source, efficiently providing our clients with comprehensive solutions to global challenges in an increasingly complex world.

Whether it’s about company law, contract law, intellectual property law or competition law, nobody gets very far without a legal expert, especially in cross-border transactions. So our role is to provide our clients with highly specialised lawyers who not only take care of the legal framework, but also represent their interests in negotiations and vis-à-vis the authorities.

What are your responsibilities as a career starter?

Your tasks in the team will be varied and you’ll often be working on several projects at the same time. You’ll be supporting our lawyers/legal advisors in the enforcement and defence of claims in various areas of law – sometimes also in cooperation with specialists from other areas (tax consultancy and auditing). For example, you may be involved in drafting various client documents such as memoranda or requirement documents or preparing client proposals and presentations for client projects. In addition you’ll be designing regulations, processes and contract templates, both independently and as part of a team.