Although PwC has dropped one place in our rankings, the firm’s average score increased
slightly this review, and the firm earned a top-five place for both differentiation and appeal, scoring above average on all sub-criteria within these two categories.
With PwC, there is no obvious weak point against any of our criteria—the firm just needs to do
a little bit better across the spectrum to secure a permanent top-five slot.

“There was a little girl, who had a little curl, right in the middle of her forehead. When she was good
she was very, very good, but when she was bad she was horrid.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
At its best PwC really is very, very good, and while many firms are capable of publishing one or
two exceptional pieces in a half-year period, PwC seems to be capable of doing so repeatedly.

PwC produces a lot of material. As we mentioned in the introduction, this is a firm that is capable of delivering very good
thought leadership – Banking 2020, for example, combines survey data with PwC’s insights in an appealing and easily
navigable document.
For the first time, PwC’s score includes Strategy& thought leadership, which despite a blip last review, has typically