Having an open and collaborative approach to building and maintaining relationships with our stakeholders is essential for business. Proactive engagement allows us to identify our stakeholders needs and expectations; seek feedback to evolve our services and operations; and work effectively with our clients, people and communities.
At PwC Australia, we have a diverse range of stakeholders. We use a variety of mechanisms to engage them, including internal and external events, communications, forums and activities, targeted surveys, feedback processes and in-depth interviews. This information informs our view of materiality, shapes our sustainability approach and guides our transparency reporting.
Our Materiality Approach
During the year we conducted a materiality assessment process to validate our Sustainability Framework, refresh our sustainability topics and definitions, and prioritise these topics based on their materiality to PwC Australia. This process informs our sustainability strategy, decision-making and reporting and included the following steps:
Undertaking a desktop assessment of existing processes, procedures and other relevant information related to how we identify our material sustainability topics.
Conducting a high-level assessment of our potential and actual sustainability-related impacts, risks and opportunities, understanding alignment of topics to the Global Reporting Initiative Framework, and validating sustainability topics as material.
Scoring our sustainability topics to prioritise those that are most material. For each topic an assessment of the potential impacts, risk and opportunities (IRO) was conducted which was then scored based on the likelihood of the IRO occurring together with the potential impact of the IRO on the firm, society or the environment. This scoring was then reviewed by subject-matter experts in the firm.
Following this process, we identified a number of material topics relevant to our business. Our top 10 most material topics are outlined in the diagram.
Our stakeholders |
How we engage |
Topics of interest |
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Our Clients Our clients are critical to our business. We engage to understand their industry and business challenges and identify opportunities to improve our services and products. |
We engage with our clients directly via our annual CEO Survey as well as industry and client forums, thought leadership and events, our website, social media and press releases as well as regular market research, survey and feedback channels. |
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Our People Our staff are at the heart of everything we do, and are integral to our ability to continue providing the highest quality services to our clients. Our contractors and offshore service hubs are integral to our ability to provide quality services to our clients.
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Regular engagement with our people is achieved via our weekly One Firm News, team and company-wide meetings and roadshows, employee networks, forums and advisory groups including our People Council, our global engagement survey, onboarding and career management check-ins, recruitment events, interviews and internships. We are also committed to creating an equitable and inclusive firm providing opportunities for our people to engage via our ethics hotline and other grievance mechanisms with progress reported annually in our Transparency Report. |
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Our Partners We engage to set direction for business, create a diverse and inclusive workplace, support wellbeing and to create a sense of belonging. |
Alongside regular engagement with our people we have specific mechanisms for engaging with our Partners including: our weekly partner note; executive and governance meetings and presentations as well as through opportunities to get involved in board and community engagements and events. |
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Alumni Network The PwC Alumni Network helps over 10,000 PwC and legacy firm alumni stay connected to the firm and each other. Our alumni are a powerful advocacy cohort who we engage with to drive brand advocacy, glean business insights, generate lead and revenue opportunities and drive talent acquisition. |
We engage with our Alumni Network via a range of means including: priority access to content, regular newsletters, firm reports and insights, in person events and roundtables, Alumni Leadership Series events and a private LinkedIn group. Additionally, former partners have access to Quarterly Former Partners webcast and our annual former partner publication ‘The Echo’. |
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PwC Network Globally, PwC is a network of partnerships. Providing global services to our clients relies on our engagement with other territories to develop integrated services and client experiences and alignment on sustainability points of view. |
We engage regularly with our global PwC network directly through our participation in global governance and advisory boards, industry and subject-matter working groups. We also contribute towards the global engagement survey as well as our annual reporting disclosures. |
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Government & Regulators Compliance with existing regulations and contributing to the evolving regulatory and public policy agenda, including insights into and perspectives from the wider business community. |
We engage via bipartisan engagement with political parties, key regulators and standard setters together with regular consultations and focus groups, industry forums, research and thought leadership including through our annual Transparency Report. |
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Community & First Nations Building trust in society and solving important problems is PwC's purpose, extending our reach to all members of society, through our work with clients and communities. We engage to inform our understanding of society’s challenges and to build capacity and trust within communities. |
We engage directly with the community / the community sector through our volunteering program, pro/low bono commercial engagements and NFP board appointments. We deliver thought leadership events and publications and we engage via regular sponsorship, giving and mentoring. |
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Suppliers & Alliance Partners All current suppliers and other business partners, along with any other potential business stakeholders, are fundamental for PwC's operations. We engage to understand supplier concerns and to provide mutual support to enhance quality of service and sustainability standards in our supply chain. |
We engage with our suppliers and alliance partners via ongoing relationship management forums and events as well as access to feedback mechanisms. Our tender process and contracts are in line with our Third Party Code of Conduct. |
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Transparency Report
PwC Australia prepares an annual transparency report based on the World Economic Forum International Business Council (WEF IBC) Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics to demonstrate our strengthened focus and ongoing commitment to transparency, accountability, and sustainable performance.
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