Understanding the expectations of stakeholders and incorporating them into our work

Public & Regulatory Affairs

Public & Regulatory Affairs

Thanks to almost 5800 colleagues in the Netherlands, our contact with clients, and our partnerships, PwC is in close touch with society. We continuously ask ourselves how we can help to improve societal trust and ensure sustainable progress. To be able to keep answering this question in a world that is changing faster than ever before, we also actively converse with our societal stakeholders. This allows us to better understand their expectations and to incorporate them into our work.

The views of our stakeholders help us to become a better organisation and to offer relevant services as auditors, tax advisers and consultants.

Active dialogue with our stakeholders 

We maintain ongoing dialogue with our stakeholders. This includes academics, civil servants, clients, colleagues, politicians, regulators, societal organisations and supervisory board members. By listening carefully, we gain insights into their opinions and expectations regarding our services, business operations, and societal role. Out of all these discussions, we identify key messages.

Guide clients in their sustainability journey 

Even though the sustainability regulatory landscape is currently shifting, stakeholders find our ESG services of utmost importance. They encourage us to guide our clients in their transformation to becoming future-proof organisations and help them navigate the complexities of sustainability reporting. Seeing that many other organisations are reporting or communicating about their sustainability goals, they believe that auditors and consultants are needed to make sure organisations have a solid strategy and put this into practice. 

Contribute to the public debate by sharing knowledge

In times of geopolitical tensions and increasing societal instability, stakeholders emphasise the crucial role of sharing knowledge to foster trust and actively engaging in public discourse. They appreciate PwC’s publications, which they find insightful, of high quality and societally relevant. To further maximise our impact, stakeholders encourage us to join research forces with other organisations on key societal topics and to keep sharing facts and insights in the public debate. 
 

Use AI, but maintain the human touch 

Our stakeholders notice PwC’s investments in AI. They emphasise the importance of using AI to enhance efficiency while carefully considering its implementation and impact. Because automating tasks can reduce contextual understanding and might impact personal development, stakeholders advise us to pay attention to the human learning curve as well. They stress the need to maintain the human touch, where emotional intelligence complements technical expertise.

Societal role: Contributing to the public debate

A societal role that nearly all our stakeholders envision for us is to contribute to the public debate. They see organisations like PwC as a relevant voice because we, as auditors and advisors, engage with numerous organisations, allowing us to gain a comprehensive and diverse view of the issues at play within each sector. Stakeholders ask us to share these insights, based on facts and figures. The themes are varied: from the business climate to the energy transition, and from modernising the tax system to sustainable transitions and sustainable reporting. The common thread is that they are socially relevant and fall within our area of expertise. 

Sharing insights and developing them further 

We conduct research into societal challenges and potential solutions. This aligns with the expectations of our stakeholders and supports our ambition to build trust in society. Based on facts and figures, we provide relevant knowledge and insights to our clients, the media, and society. We have conversations with stakeholders about these findings, allowing us to hear their reactions, learn from their perspectives, and utilise those insights for further research. We also use the insights from our stakeholders to enhance our services and business operations. Their perspectives are also an integral part of our double materiality analysis, and therefore our strategy. 

Incorporating the expectations of stakeholders into our work

Helping to sustainably improve audit quality

The audit profession is always on the move. This can, for example, be attributed to changing laws and regulations, as well as changing public expectations in fields such as sustainability, fraud and continuity. PwC wants to help sustainably improve audit quality. We thus examine how things can be improved or done differently, and talk about this with our stakeholders.

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Contributing to a sustainable tax system

Everyone has to deal with taxes. Rules tend to change regularly, and the tax system can be perceived as complicated. PwC wants to help improve the system and make it comprehensible, by sharing knowledge about existing laws and regulations, and by sharing ideas about what can be changed or done differently.

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Contributing to a sustainable society

A sustainable future can only be realised with a healthy planet and a society based on socio-economic cohesion. This sustainable future will offer appropriate and meaningful employment for all, together with equal opportunities in an inclusive society. PwC wants to contribute to this sustainable society by offering our services, sharing knowledge and making ourselves heard in public debates.

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Do you have questions? Contact us

Contact us

Monique de Jong

Woordvoerder, PwC Netherlands

Tel: +31 (0)64 329 88 53

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