OREANDA-NEWS. April 28, 2011. PwC Russia representatives met with Mikhail Astapov, Head of Kuban State University, and Sergei Reznichenko, Vice President of Kuban State Agrarian University, in Krasnodar to sign a cooperation agreement.  PwC Partner David Gray and Director of the PwC Krasnodar office Anna Kalmykova attended the meeting.  The goal of PwC’s visit to sunny Krasnodar was continued collaboration on educational programs, reported the press-centre of PwC.

Under the agreement, PwC and these universities will create a long-term system and mutually beneficial partnership for developing joint programs in the area of training and research activities. This is to ensure greater support for the educational process and improved educational programs, as well as to satisfy the requirements for qualified specialists considering the demands of the labor market.

And so, PwC will take part in improving the universities’ courses on accounting, audit and tax, as well as send PwC professionals to the universities to lecture and hold practical training sessions. In addition, the most talented students will be able to do internships and even work at PwC. Each year, PwC will test and recruit the universities’ economic department graduates who wish to join the firm.

During the meetings at the universities, David Gray also officially announced the opening of PwC Russia’s office in Krasnodar in September 2011 and introduced its Director, Anna Kalmykova. She commented:

“We are very happy that we will soon have an active presence in the Krasnodar Region, so that we can invest even more in its economic development,  help attract investment, build constructive relations with the region’s administration, help local businesses develop and, of course, develop and support  the talented youth of Kuban.”

Business relations between PwC and the Krasnodar Region Administration were established in 2009, when PwC and the Krasnodar Region Administration, represented by Alexander Tkachev, signed a cooperation agreement.  The goal of this cooperation is to develop and implement programs aimed at Kuban’s social and economic development, make the region’s companies more competitive, identify their investment needs and develop a plan to bring in capital.

PwC’s presence in the Krasnodar region is also an important step in preparing for the upcoming Olympics.  PwC is a partner of and the official provider of professional services to the 2014 Winter Olympic Games and the Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi.  In its exclusive collaboration with the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee, PwC has implemented more than 70 projects on planning, preparing and implementing the Games; taxation; human resources; sustainable development; marketing; financial planning and budgeting, among other areas.

PwC entered the Russian market in 1989. Since then, PwC has become the country’s largest audit and consulting services firm.  About 2,500 people work in PwC’s offices in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Kazan and Ekaterinburg. In the summer, PwC plans to open an office in Novosibirsk and one in Krasnodar in the fall.