Demand for advice on how to grow sales and cut costs is driving a long-awaited rebound in the consulting sector after several bleak years, the head of PwC Australia’s new-look advisory business says.

An optimistic Rohit (Ro) Antao also said that the two other parts of the advisory business he runs have seen an uptick in demand over the past two months. Retiring business founders were increasingly asking the firm’s private client advisors about passing on their wealth, while PwC’s deals partners were seeing an uptick in mergers and acquisitions activity.