Yahoo Finance Accounting Giant PwC Kicks Off Brexit Debate
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has become one of the UK's biggest private sector employers so far to engage staff on the merits of Britain's membership of the European Union (EU).
Sky News understands that the 'big four' accountancy firm last week held an event for more than 100 UK partners to discuss the implications of Brexit.
The debate was chaired by Richard Oldfield, a PwC UK board member, and included contributions from Lord Young, David Cameron's former enterprise adviser, and Lord O'Donnell, the former Cabinet Secretary who is a member of PwC's public interest body.
Sir Christopher Bellamy, a former EU court judge, and Charles Grant of the Centre for European Reform were the other panellists, according to a person who attended.
The event coincided with the launch of an intranet site intended to provide information on the impending EU referendum to PwC's roughly 18,000 UK staff.
People familiar with the site's contents said it aimed to "lay out facts rather than take a position" despite the fact that PwC has previously put its name to a list of private sector employers backing the pro-EU campaign group Britain in Europe.
One person close to the firm said PwC's status as a global professional services provider meant that it was important for it to adopt a neutral position on Brexit.
"The objective is to inform rather than persuade," the person said.
One section of the firm's "EU Referendum Hub" attempts to outline the possible futures for Britain outside Europe.
"The UK would have a variety of potential futures outside the EU all of which requiring negotiation with the EU," it says.
"Under the Treaty of Lisbon, the UK can give notice of its desire to leave and a two year period follows to allow negotiation of the terms of exit.
"The EU/other Member States are not obliged to give the UK favourable terms, and much will depend on the relative negotiating positions and how successful the UK is in building support."
The Prime Minister faces a crucial test in Brussels next week when he will seek to persuade his EU counterparts to back his reform package to a degree that will enable him to campaign in favour of a vote to stay in Europe.
A successful deal is expected by most political commentators is expected to lead to a poll in late June.
So far, few major British employers have publicly declared for either side of the EU debate, although a number of major Wall Street banks including Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS - news) and JP Morgan - which employ thousands of UK staff - have donated substantial sums to Britain Stronger in Europe.
In a statement issued to Sky News, Ian Powell, PwC's UK chairman and senior partner, said:
"The EU referendum debate is uppermost in the minds of our people and our clients.
"We are increasingly seeing clients in the UK and overseas debating the European issues and the implications of both remaining within Europe and Brexit.
"The most frequently raised business issues focus on the uncertainty created by any Brexit particularly around jobs, business confidence and the economy."
The audit profession's regulator, the Financial Reporting Council, said this week that listed companies should quantify the likely impact of Brexit in forthcoming financial disclosures (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) .
