True And Fair: The History Of Price Waterhouse

Price Waterhouse is one of the oldest established accountancy practices in the world. It is also one of the largest. This history is the story of commercial success: of how a small Victorian City partnership grew, in less than 150 years, to employ more than 50,000 people in 118 countries.Few Victorian partnerships have survived, let alone with their founding principles and ideals still driving the business. True and Fair shows how Price Waterhouse adapted to the changing fortunes of the British and then global economy and a rapidly developing commercial environment. Among the themes discussed are Edwin Waterhouse's unprecedented success in building an audit practice, the internationalisation of the partnership and setting up of an operation in America, the meteoric career of Sir Gilbert Garnsey, a company doctor during the 1920s, the impact of two world wars, the growth of management consultancy, and latterly the firm's involvement in privatisation.This study seeks to explain how Price Waterhouse could remain at the forefront of its profession for over 140 years when so many famous practices have disappeared through amalgamation or take-over. Edgar Jones was granted full access to the firm's archives and has spent over four years researching this exemplary and definitive company history.