Consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has unveiled a multi-billion shilling expansion plan that will see it hire 500 partners and staff in Kenya in the next three years in a move that is set to intensify the battle for talent in Kenya’s financial advisory market.
The firm said the hiring in Kenya is part of a Sh9 billion investments package for Africa that is targeted at multinational firms that are trooping to the continent in search of growth.
These increased investments are in turn spurring agreements on joint ventures and business formation, due diligence investigations and mergers and acquisitions — watering the ground for advisory firms such as PwC, KPMG, Ernst & Young, and Deloitte to generate outsized consultancy fees.
The move by PwC to widen its staff to allow it tap this mega contracts is set to pave the way for a vicious battle for talent as its search for partners is likely to see it turn to rivals’ talent pool—setting off a spiral in wages as players move to defend and attract star performers.
“Our people are our biggest asset and it is no surprise that the majority of our investment will go towards recruiting additional skills, across our assurance, tax and advisory businesses,” Dennis Nally, the global chief executive of PwC said on Monday while unveiling the pan-African plan.
“Our focus will be on developing deeper industry expertise in relevant markets across Africa. We see Kenya as an important hub – both because of the availability of skills and the number of clients who have regional headquarters here.”
The firm is seeking to diversify its business further in an effort to reduce reliance on tax and auditing jobs by tapping the lucrative advisory roles.
This will not only place it in contention for talent with the ‘Big Four’ firms for talent but also investment bankers such as Dyer & Blair, Standard Investment Bank and CFC Stanbic that are also strengthening their staff base. The investment bankers are locked in vicious battle for talent in what has seen seasoned market analysts and traders change employees in the quest to tap informed and sophisticated equity investors and advisory deals.
Recent years
The plan by PwC to go heavy on staff recruitment looks set to offer employment opportunities for younger Kenyans qualified as CPAs who have in recent years been facing a tough job market as the big audit firms went slow on hiring.
Its rivals such as Deloitte and Ernst & Young reckon that they are also going big on hiring and they warn that talent look set to be expensive. “The increase in fees is a reflection of the rise in wages in the auditing field in recent years due to the scramble for top talent and I expect it to maintain the same gradient this year,” said Sammy Onyango, the managing partner at Deloitte.
He added that the race to grab partners from rivals is informed by their vast contacts that firms reckon will bring new business.
The pay of a senior auditor has risen to an average of Sh240,000 from about Sh150,000 in a period of three years with executives earning between Sh1 million ad Sh3 million besides sharing profits.
The rising interest by PwC in East Africa is linked to a recent trooping to the region of foreign investors chasing a piece of the multi-billion shilling natural resource projects (oil in Uganda and Sudan), setting up operational hubs, eyeing buy-outs in the common market or getting involved in the multi-billion infrastructure deals.
Key drivers of the expected capital flows include the formation of a common market in East Africa, which should create a market of about 126 million persons and allow free movement of factors of production.
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| Mr Dennis Nally, the chairman of PwC International (left), and Mr Phillip Kinisu, the Africa Central senior partner, address journalists during a press briefing in Nairobi where they announced a growth plan for Africa |
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