The professional services firm now known as PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in Jamaica originated in the partnership of James Wood and Ralph Carman who started an accounting and auditing practice in 1916 under the name Wood & Carman. Their offices were situated at 4 Duke Street, a stone’s throw from where the current offices now sit.

One of the earliest clients of the firm was Kingston Industrial Garage that soon after acquired significant holdings in rum manufacturers Wray & Nephew Limited and distributors Lascelles DeMercado Limited. In the early 1920’s Desnoes & Geddes and Grace Kennedy & Company Limited were incorporated and also became clients of the firm. Both the Wray & Nephew and Grace Groups are still significant clients of PwC.

In 1925 Charles Costa, born in the parish of St. Ann, joined the partnership to become known as Wood Carman & Costa.

In 1932, the original firm was split into two separate firms – Wood & Costa and Carman & Bruce, as Carman left to join Douglas Bruce, who was a sole practitioner at the time. One of the staff members employed to Douglas Bruce at the time, Pat de Mercado, would later become a partner at Carman & Bruce.

The first receivership undertaken by the firm was in 1933 and involved the Constant Spring Hotel, with Douglas Bruce appointed Receiver and Manager of the hotel. In 1940, the hotel, excluding the golf course, was sold to the Franciscan sisters for use as a convent and girls’ school and survives to this day as the Immaculate Conception Convent and High School. The golf course survives as the Constant Spring Golf Club.

Just prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, Carman & Bruce opened an office in Mandeville, having developed a large clientele in the town. Robert Harty joined the firm of Wood & Costa which expanded its name to Wood Costa & Harty in 1937.

The War years (1939 – 1945) were a period of very limited business activity. Wood Costa & Harty started a practice in Belize, British Honduras, shortly after the end of the war in 1945. In 1949 a licence for commercial broadcasting was granted to Jamaica Broadcasting Company. This company remains a client of the firm having been through many stages.

Following the investment of Tate and Lyle in the late 1930’s the firm became deeply involved in providing services to the sugar industry beginning through the West Indies Sugar Company (WISCo), especially at Monymusk and Frome. One of these entities, Worthy Park, gained the reputation of being the most efficient sugar producer in Jamaica, and remains a client of PwC today.

Ralph Carman retired in 1954 having practiced for almost 40 years. He was succeeded by Clinton Nunes as Senior Partner and George Downer then became partner responsible for the Mandeville office.

In the early 1950s, Alcan appointed Carman & Bruce as its auditors. The audit of the Canadian parent company was handled by the Montreal office of Price Waterhouse, thus communications were established between the two firms. In 1955, Harry Noman, the senior partner of Price Waterhouse in Canada, paid a visit to Jamaica and discussions were had about deepening the relationship between the two firms. In 1959, Carman & Bruce were made correspondents of Price Waterhouse and in 1961 became a Price Waterhouse firm (PW).

In 1962 the firm of Trevor Brown & Adams (later becoming Trevor Brown Adams & LaCruise) began acting as a correspondent firm for the International arm of Coopers & Lybrand with Alcoa Minerals of Jamaica LLC and Swiss Stores Limited as two of their earliest clients. This firm was located on Harbour Street, then 32 Duke Street before moving to Oxford Terrace.

In 1963, the new Price Waterhouse firm amalgamated with the other half of the original partnership, Wood Costa & Harty. Shortly after the merger, a Consulting department was started and there was expansion by way of a new office opening in the Cayman Islands. In 1965, the Companies Act came into force which resulted in the formation of Duke Corporation – now known as PwC Corporate Services (Jamaica) Limited, to assist clients with the many new requirements of the law. In 1968, an office was opened in Ocho Rios.

In 1970 the PW Montego Bay office was opened and in 1971 Trevor Bown Adams & LaCruise became a full member of Coopers & Lybrand firm later also opening offices in Montego Bay and Ocho Rios. In 1975, the PW Kingston office moved into the newly constructed Scotiabank Centre on the corner of Duke and Port Royal streets. By this time, there was a staff complement of nearly two hundred. Shortly thereafter however, with the contraction of the economy during the seventies, the firm made the decision to close the Ocho Rios and Mandeville offices and pull out of Belize and Cayman, the latter handed over to the Bahamian firm given the similarities of the two practices. Coopers & Lybrand offices moved to 1A Holborn Road in 1977. During the eighties despite continued global recession, both PW and C&L maintained significant clientele in the private sector as when combined the two firms had a virtual monopoly in providing audit, tax and business advisory services to the major insurance companies and bauxite/alumina multinational corporations in addition to a number of major local and regional conglomerates.

On 1 July 1998 Price Waterhouse merged with Coopers & Lybrand to become the largest professional services firm globally. On 1 March 1999 the local firms of Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand merged to form PricewaterhouseCoopers Jamaica the largest professional services firm in the island.