PwC invests 40 million in Belfast, creates 800 new jobs
Professional services Big Four firm PwC has announced an investment of £40 million to create 807 new jobs in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The new workforce will be divided over PwC’s two new projects: ‘My Financepartner’ and ‘PwC Augment’. The jobs are to be created in the coming five years.
On the first of October 2014, UK’s First Minister Peter Robinson, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, and the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment Arlene Foster announced the creation of 807 new jobs by accounting and consulting firm PwC in Northern Ireland, Belfast. The new jobs are to be created over the next five years, and will support PwC’s regional practices and international growth*.
New PwC projects
The more than 800 jobs will provide staffing for PwC’s two newly created projects: ‘My Financepartner’ and ‘PwC Augment’. For the first project, a cloud-based management information service that involves professional analysis of financial transactions, 303 positions are to be filled by qualified and graduate accountants. For PwC Augment, graduates and school leavers will be targeted for the 504 vacancies. “PwC Augment is a direct response to international client demand for high-level, multi-skilled, in-house support,” says Paul Terrington, Northern Ireland Regional Chairman at PwC. “Both developments are in line with our strategy of identifying and developing innovative revenue streams to generate growth and have been initiated from within Northern Ireland. They are a testament to the leadership and entrepreneurial endeavour of our local team.”
To create the more than 800 new jobs that have average salaries of around £21,000 a year, PwC has announced an investment of £40 million, an investment that is complemented by grants of Invest Northern Ireland (NI), worth £4.4 million. Commenting on the investments, Foster says: “These two significant projects could have gone elsewhere but were secured for Northern Ireland by the hard work of Invest NI and because PwC recognises the high calibre of graduates available here. Companies like PwC are key players in driving Northern Ireland's continued economic growth.”
Belfast
This is the second time in one month’s time that a Big Four firm decides to invest heavily in Northern Island and to create hundreds of jobs in Belfast. Early September, Deloitte announced that it will invest £30 million to create 338 new jobs in the coming five years in Belfast.
* In the past year, PwC has made direct investments worth over £200 million, which were part of a wider investment of £750 million since 2008.
