PricewaterhouseCoopers UAB Transparency report for the financial year ended 30 June 2019 1 Content 1. Introduction 3 2. Strategy and leadership 4 3. Governance and structure 6 Governance 6 Firm’s structure 7 PwC network 7 4. Quality Management for Service Excellence 10 4.1. Leadership and accountability 14 4.2. Ethical requirements 15 4.3. Independence 18 4.4. Management’s statement concerning 21 independence practices and review 4.5. Acceptance and Continuance process 22 4.6. Human Resources 23 4.7. Continuing Education of Statutory Auditors 26 4.8. Engagement performance 26 4.9. Monitoring 28 4.10. Management’s Statement on the effectiveness 29 of internal quality control system functioning 4.11. Last Quality Assurance Review 29 5. Partners remuneration 30 6. Financial Information for the year ended 30 June 31 2019 7. Declaration 32 Appendix 1. List of Public Interest Entities audited 33 2. PwC network firms 35 2 1 Introduction More than half of organisations have not implemented Artificial Intelligence initiatives yet At PwC, our purpose is to build trust in This report is published in accordance with society and solve important problems. We the requirements of art.13 of the Regulation are a network of firms in 157 countries (EU) No 537/2014 of the European with more than 276,000 people who are Parliament and of the Council of 16 April committed to delivering quality in assurance, 2014 on specific requirements regarding advisory and tax & legal services. statutory audit of public-interest entities. The objective of this report is to present the steps we continue to take to enhance the quality of our assurance services through investment in our people, technologies and processes. More than half of organisations have not implemented Artificial Intelligence initiatives yet 3 2 Strategy and leadership Assurance Today PricewaterhouseCoopers UAB is a separate EU has introduced the EU requirements member firm of PwC Central and Eastern differently which adds to the complexities Europe (CEE), which is a shared economic for multinational groups and the now interest of the Partners in the different PwC necessary increased amount of time spent member firms in the CEE region. on audit tendering and ensuring compliance with these various rules. Maintaining a How does our Assurance business look stable client base is a big challenge, and in today? Despite all the turbulence and the tough competitive market that challenge challenging economic environment we have becomes even tougher. Our natural pool of witnessed in Central and Eastern Europe resources are young university graduates. (CEE) region and in PricewaterhouseCoopers The challenges of motivating and retaining UAB in recent years, we are very proud to Millennials has been well documented and say that our Assurance practice continues to we are not immune to these challenges. Add grow healthy. to that the continued pressure on prices and increasing competition and you have a set In the year to 30 June 2019, PwC CEE of challenges that really mean we have to be revenue from audit and assurance services agile if we are going to adopt our business reached US$ 359 million, up by 3% on the and keep moving in the direction, we want previous year. PwC has a strong track record to take it. to be proud of. We have over almost 30 years built a wide network across CEE with Our strategy aims to deal with the 60 offices in 29 countries, 268 Partners and abovementioned challenges and is to build over 12,000 staff. the assurance model which is right for the 2020’s. In PricewaterhouseCoopers UAB Some of the key challenges we face include Assurance we want to help our clients the impact of the global and local economy deal with the rapid change, contribute on our business, tough competition in to their success by delivering value and our market, increased regulation and the confidence, and we do this through the ongoing challenges to recruit and retain the trusted relationships that we continue to best people. invest in. We want an audit business which is innovative, dynamic and successful. We Capital markets continue to be suppressed, disrupt ourselves, transform and adopt our and some of the economies across our business to be technologically advanced. region continue to have low economic Finally, we want an audit practice that growth with reduced inward investment. people (clients and staff) are proud of: proud of Eleven of our territories are in the European the quality of the work we do, quality of our Union and continue to see the impact from client base and the value we bring to those the EU Audit Reform, including mandatory clients. firm rotation and prohibited services to audit clients. This impacts all our firms and not just those in the EU. Each country in the 4 Audit Quality and Transparency Quality is at the heart of what we do and We take any failings very seriously and remains fundamental to our strategic significant challenges are investigated priorities. Through continued focus on in detail at the highest levels of the firm. quality, we increasingly receive feedback Where these situations arise, there are from our clients that we win audits on the always lessons that can be learnt for the basis of our audit quality and the wider future and we are committed to continuous added-value insights we bring them. We improvement. work hard to reinforce this and raise the bar on audit quality, through: • establishing and maintaining a rigorous Our commitment to audit quality can better system of internal quality controls and increase trust if we make it transparent and monitoring procedures (as outlined further so we hope that many of our stakeholders in this report) will read this report. Another critical part of • an audit methodology that will maximise our approach to transparency can be seen the chance that we will find material in the extended audit reports we issue on issues the listed companies and EU Public Interest Entities. • the innovative use of technology as an integrated part of our methodology. These extended audit reports set out the details of our audit scope and approach, A comprehensive audit methodology, en- materiality, the risk areas identified and how abled by cutting edge technology, needs to our audit responded to these. For some be delivered by the right team. We recruit of these areas like materiality we have and develop our assurance professionals to voluntarily increased disclosure. We have be collaborative, sceptical and brave enough taken the approach to give this voluntary to deal with problems when they arise. This information in the vast majority of our takes an on-going substantial investment of opinions which is different from the majority training hours per year, and a culture where of the market. our people know that quality is valued above everything else. Forward looking statement As we look further out into the future, all We will continue to be able to bring human perspectives are dominated by the impact values and ethics to subjective judgements, of technological change. There is a belief whilst increasing audit quality and efficiency that the development of artificially intelligent through the use of big data techniques and machines means that the future for some machine learning. professionals, including audit and assurance providers, is bleak, and that we may soon be We began with an explanation of the unnecessary. importance of assurance today, and we’ve ended by debating that assurance could pay We believe that it is important to understand an even more important role in the future. the opportunities and threats presented by We are proud to take on the responsibility of disruptive technology with an open mind. By being assurance professionals dealing with transforming our business, we will be able to the complexities and challenges of today’s re-invent ourselves, and adjust, but only by changing world. We also continue to invest being open to radical change whilst retaining in the future of assurance as we pursue our our fundamental purpose. purpose – to build trust in society and solve important problems. 5 3 Governance and structure Governance Within the Central and Eastern European advisory) are set by the business line grouping of PwC member firms which management team. includes 29 national territories, a matrix system of management is operated. Oversight of the Regional Management Each partner votes in a 4 yearly election Board on behalf of the partners is carried of a PwC CEE Chief Executive who out by an elected regional Partner Council, appoints a Management Board, including which approves key policies and decisions representatives from geography and which affect partners and the firm. business lines and Operational Leaders. This Management Board is responsible for setting Management structure of broad business objectives and ensuring PricewaterhouseCoopers UAB consists of compliance with PwC International policies. Management Board, appointed by the sole shareholder of the company and General Across geographical lines the policy and Manager, appointed by the Management business objectives of each principal Board. The company is solely represented business line (assurance, tax & legal and by the General Manager. 6 Firm’s structure PricewaterhouseCoopers UAB is a resource sharing, the enforcement of risk private limited company 100% owned by management policies and quality standards. PricewaterhouseCoopers Könyvvizsgáló Kft registered in Hungary. The ultimate Each national member firm also has its beneficiaries are the partners in the own management structure in place, PricewaterhouseCoopers member firms. in accordance with relevant legal and PricewaterhouseCoopers UAB is a member operational requirements. This legal of PricewaterhouseCoopers International structure and network arrangement gives Limited. each member firm the flexibility and autonomy to respond quickly and effectively PricewaterhouseCoopers UAB cooperates to conditions in its local market.