PricewaterhouseCoopers, the largest accounting and audit firm in Malta, yesterday announced the launch of “PwC Academy”, a training and development service focussed on learning, networking and sharing of knowledge. PwC Academy is a concept that PricewaterhouseCoopers already operates successfully across Europe and is aimed at the firm’s clients, staff, alumni and all those who wish to keep up-to-date with current professional developments and modern practices.

Kevin Valenzia, Territory Senior Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Malta told The Times Business: “I am very proud to be launching this new initiative of the firm. I am sure that the keys to the success of PwC Academy will remain those that have worked so well to date for PricewaterhouseCoopers – our ability to listen and adapt to the needs of our clients, our commitment to quality and professionalism in everything we do, our continued investment in our people, our determination to provide innovative services which are distinctive, and our consultative approach in carrying out every aspect of our business.

“Our ambition remains to be the firm that is always front of mind whenever professional services are mentioned – we firmly believe that the Academy will continue to strengthen our position in the market.”

The Academy will be the platform through which PricewaterhouseCoopers will channel its long-standing commitment towards promoting technical expertise and continuous professional development. Drawing on the knowledge and experience of a 300-strong firm, it will foster, internally and externally, its firm-wide culture of learning and development. Both the firm’s intensive internal training programmes as well as all external training carried out by the firm will now be undertaken by PwC Academy.

The PwC Academy aims to be the vehicle through which individuals can acquire the skills and aptitudes they need to build rewarding careers and realise their full potential. The Academy will support personal and professional development both from an individual as well as from an entity perspective and will assist organisations to enhance the value of their human capital resources.

PwC Academy will be run by a team of seasoned training professionals who will use their experience and enthusiasm to provide training programmes that will leave a lasting impact on participants. Simon Flynn, who is the firm’s partner responsible for learning and education, will oversee the PwC Academy team, which will be led by Lisa Pullicino, a senior manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers with many years experience in running training programmes. An operations board made up of qualified trainers across the firm’s different lines of services will be responsible for developing the various training programmes that the Academy will soon be offering.

The Academy will provide a distinctive service by translating PwC’s expertise and specialisation into relevant and innovative learning and development programmes that will also cater for specific industries and for client needs. It will offer a varied programme that will include a mix of technical and business skills sessions. Its target audience includes, but is not limited to, accounting, tax and auditing practitioners. Indeed in certain aspects, it will also cater for professionals from other sectors.

PwC Academy will very shortly announce its open curriculum for 2010 with its first training offering planned for May. Details of the curriculum will be found on the PwC Academy interactive website to be launched shortly. It will include courses and workshops that will mainly be delivered by partners and senior staff members of PricewaterhouseCoopers who are recognised as specialists within their respective fields and who also possess strong presentation and communication skills.

Areas covered will include accounting, business advisory, auditing, taxation, management and business skills. The sessions will be as practical and business-oriented as possible. By limiting the participants in each session to manageable numbers PwC Academy aims at giving as much of a personal and participant focused service as possible.

The Academy’s philosophy encourages industry-specific and client-specific training and these programmes will be run following discussions held with those organisations that show interest in this type of “closed” training for their people. These sessions will be exclusive to the organisation requesting them and will follow an in-depth training needs analysis that PwC Academy will carry out together with its clients. This will enable the Academy to transform its expertise into dedicated training projects, with clear benefits.

“Easier adaptation to the organisation’s working environment, addressing specific issues faced by the target audience, being more relevant to the individual client/industry scenario and focusing on the needs of a homogenous group are just some of these benefits,” PwC Malta said.

PwC Academy’s trainers have been carefully selected. The Academy insists that technical expertise must be coupled with excellent instructor skills to create impact, to share knowledge and to make learning stick. Trainers have therefore been meticulously chosen based on their knowledge of the subject and their proven track record, as well as on their experience in training and group animation.

“PwC Academy envisages that the quality of its trainers will be one of its key success factors. It is the PwC trainers, all experts in their respective fields, who will make the link between theory and practice in a way that maximises the return on investment for participants in terms of time and cost,” the firm said.

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