PwC Celebrates its 75th Anniversary

It all started 75 years ago, in May 1938, when the first office, Accountants & Belasting Consulenten van Vooren (Accountants & Tax Consultants van Vooren), was established on Curaçao at Madurostraat 6 for a mere 80 guilders a month. From that moment, PwC (as it is called today) became a part of the Curaçao community.

Text Heather De Paulo

The first auditors were Piet Laurijssen and Ko Blom, and later, Ph. Keller. Soon after the office opened, the beginning of World War II had an impact on the company in the Netherlands Antilles. However, work in the region, including Suriname, Venezuela and Aruba, provided enough business to keep the company going. Due to the scarcity of staff during the war, much effort was made to maintain enough staffing to allow the company to run efficiently.

Split
Due to a change in regulations after World War II, the tax and audit work was split amongst two companies: Accountants & Belasting Consulenten van Vooren and Accountantskantoor Oudhoff en Besançon (Accountant office Oudhoff & Besançon), for the audit work. The company continued to grow, both in workload and, consequently, staff, so it was necessary to increase office space as well. From Madurostraat, the offices moved to locations such as Columbusstraat, De Ruyterkade, Pietermaai and finally, Julianaplein, where PwC is presently located.

Changes
From 1938 to the present, the company name has changed numerous times and there have been a total of 26 partners. The name changes were due to various mergers over the years. From Accountants & Belasting Consulenten van Vooren, the company underwent several mergers with other companies forming names such as Besançon Koppenberg & Co and Van Uden Besançon Koppenberg & Co. In 1988, the company continued as Van Dien & Co., in 1989 Deloitte Dijker van Dien, 1990, Coopers & Lijbrand Dijker van Dien; 1992, Coopers & Lijbrand and in 1998, PricewaterhouseCoopers. The trading name was shortened to PwC in September 2010 as part of a major rebranding exercise, as it remains today. From Curaçao, the company established itself on the other islands of the Netherlands Antilles: Aruba in 1948, St. Maarten in 1967 and Bonaire in 1994. In 1951, an office was opened in Caracas under the name Van Dien & Co.

Link
The link between the residents and businesses of the Leeward Islands in Venezuela were such that it was permitted to open a branch in Caracas. During this period, the economy of Venezuela was developing rapidly as a result of large-scale economic activities, including the production of oil and iron ore. Less than seven years later, in 1958, Venezuela’s economy collapsed due to the turbulent political situation. This affected the company’s Caracas office, which had grown considerably with clients in South American countries such as Ecuador and Peru. The deterioration of the economic situation in Venezuela made it necessary to reduce the workforce in that office, and the company was forced to share office space with the foreign company, DH & S. A few years later, the economy improved slightly, but competition also increased. In 1975, Fred Stumeyer became partner and managed the Caracas office. However, when Stumeyer died in 1981, it was decided for the company to be acquired by DH & S and thus an end to the establishment of Van Dien & Co. in Venezuela.

Not defeated
On May 30, 1969, the day of the great rebellion on Curaçao, the company was located on Columbusstraat. Although the office building was not located in the heart of where the riots took place, a car parked in front of the building was torched and caused the whole building to burn down. Very little was salvaged from the fire and many documents were lost, including PwC history archives, making the job of tracing the history of the company the work of a detective.

It should be realized that without business and professional services, economic development would almost be non-existent.

The aftermath of the catastrophe would affect the company for many years, but it was not defeated. After Columbusstraat, the office moved temporarily to a building on De Ruyterkade. A year later, the burned-out building on Columbusstraat was partially restored so that the company could return to its former location and shortly afterwards, the complete restoration of the building was complete.

New building
On September 29, 1984, the new building of PwC, then Van Dien & Co., at Pietermaai 20A was symbolically opened by Governor of the Netherlands Antilles at the time, Prof. Dr. René Römer, along with JJ Goedhart R.A, who was the chairman of the partnership at that time. This office had space for 30 people, plus a room with a copy machine, a library and a fireproof safe for the archive. There was also a meeting room and a waiting area with a receptionist’s desk.
PricewaterhouseCoopers was created in 1998 when Coopers & Lybrand merged with Price Waterhouse in an attempt to gain a scale that would put the new firm in a different league. That same year was the official opening of the new building of PricewaterhouseCoopers on the Julianaplein. PwC exists there today, occupying two of the buildings at Julianaplein 38, housing approximately 85 staff members.

Even with all of the changes over the years, the organizational culture of PwC is a constant factor. This culture is based on integrity, entrepreneurial spirit, professionalism, and corporate social responsibility. Celebrating the 75th anniversary of the company on Curaçao would not have been possible without its customers and staff.
In the coming years, without any doubt there will be changes and challenges, in economical and financial terms, locally and globally. However, the focal point of the company will always remain the clients and employees.

PwC is a network of firms in 157 countries and employs more than 184,000 people. The company provides a broad range of financial and consultancy services such as tax-efficient international planning and structuring; assurance and accounting; strategy, human resource and IT advisory services and administrative and payroll services.