Editing PwC (section)

===Price Waterhouse===
[[File:Edwin Waterhouse c1907.jpg|thumb|upright|Edwin Waterhouse {{circa|1907}}]]

In 1849, [[Samuel Lowell Price]], an accountant, founded an accountancy practice at No. 5 [[Gresham Street]] in London.<ref name="pwhistory">{{cite book |title=Accounting for Success: a History of Price Waterhouse in America 1890–1990 |publisher=Harvard Business School Press |isbn=978-0-87584-328-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/accountingforsuc00alle_0 |url-access=registration |year=1993}}</ref> In 1865, Price went into partnership with [[William Hopkins Holyland]] and [[Edwin Waterhouse]] at No. 13 Gresham Street.<ref name="pwhistory"/> Holyland left shortly afterwards to work alone in accountancy and the firm was known from 1874 as Price, Waterhouse & Co.<ref name="pwhistory"/> The firm was based at No. 3, Frederick's Place in [[Old Jewry]] in London from 1899.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/archive/richard-bucknill-price-waterhouse-and-amp-co-3-fredericks-place-old-jewry|title=Richard Bucknill, Price Waterhouse & Co., 3, Frederick's Place, Old Jewry, London, E.C.2, to A. R. Middleton Todd, 71 Campden Street, W. 8|publisher=Royal Academy |access-date=17 April 2025}}</ref> 

By the late 19th century, Price Waterhouse had gained recognition as an accounting firm. They opened an office in New York City in 1890, and the American firm expanded. The original British firm opened an office in [[Liverpool]] in 1904, and then elsewhere in the United Kingdom and worldwide, each time establishing a separate partnership in each country: the worldwide practice of Price Waterhouse was, therefore, a federation of collaborating firms that had grown organically, rather than the result of an international merger.<ref name="pwhistory" />

The firm relocated from Frederick's Place to modern offices at [[Southwark Towers]] in London Bridge Street in 1975.<ref>"Change of Address" (classified advertisement by Price Waterhouse & Co.), ''The Times'', 1975-12-01, p.22</ref> The original partnership agreement, signed by Price, Holyland, and Waterhouse could be found in the new offices there.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/term_details.aspx?bioId=164843|title=Price Waterhouse (Biographical details)|publisher=The British Museum|access-date=17 August 2013|archive-date=17 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181117233809/https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/term_details.aspx?bioId=164843|url-status=live}}</ref>

In a further effort to take advantage of [[economies of scale]], PW and [[Arthur Andersen]] discussed a merger in 1989<ref>{{cite web |url=http://faculty.washington.edu/krumme/companies/account.html |title=University of Washington: Accounting firms and organisations |publisher=Faculty.washington.edu |access-date=25 December 2007 |archive-date=15 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101115035321/http://faculty.washington.edu/krumme/companies/account.html |url-status=live }}</ref> but the negotiations failed, mainly because of conflicts of interest such as Andersen's strong commercial links with [[IBM]] and PW's audit of IBM, as well as the two firms' radically different cultures. It was said by those involved with the failed merger that at the end of the discussion, the partners at the table realized they had different views of business, and the potential merger was scrapped.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-09-26-fi-365-story.html|title=Accounting Giants Call Off Merger Plan : Price Waterhouse, Arthur Andersen Cite 'Differences'|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=26 September 1989|access-date=17 August 2013|archive-date=5 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305213903/http://articles.latimes.com/1989-09-26/business/fi-365_1_price-waterhouse|url-status=live}}</ref>