PwC Confirms Consultancy Spin Off

PwC now plan an IPO in August. The audit firm tried unsuccessfully to sell its consultancy arm in 2000 for $18bn to Hewlett-Packard.

Although no price details are available, it is thought that current market conditions will mean that the firm is likely to raise around half of the funds it would have received from Hewlett-Packard two years ago.

Around 1,500 partners in the consulting business could benefit from a windfall of shares worth up to $1m.

Both Accenture, the former consulting arm of Arthur Andersen, and KPMG Consulting, a former unit of KPMG LLP, went public in the US last year. Deloitte Consulting recently split from its audit arm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. Like Andersen's consulting arm, PwC is likely to change its name to distinguish itself from its parent.

PwC Consulting has 33,500 employees and revenues of $6.7bn last year. After the IPO PwC will remain the world's largest accounting firm, with 150,000 employees.