PwC’s local partners earned more money last year even as the firm’s profits slumped 17 per cent to $619 million, according to the accounting and consulting major’s first-ever audited financial results.

The accounts for PwC Australia, published on Friday, show the difficult position the firm finds itself in two years after a scandal over its use of confidential government information harmed its reputation and led it to carve off its lucrative public sector consultancy division.