EY and PwC are on track to miss 2025 targets for female partner representation in the UK as the Big Four accounting firms struggle to sufficiently boost the proportion of women in their upper ranks.
EY’s UK arm is set to fall short of its aim most dramatically, having set the most ambitious goal. The firm is targeting a 40 per cent female equity partnership by this year, with data from last year showing that only 28 per cent of partners in the country were women.
Audit firms have stepped up the number of women in top jobs in recent years, with EY recently naming Janet Truncale as its new global chair and appointing Anna Anthony as the UK firm’s new managing partner.
But raising the gender balance of partnerships towards parity has proved to be a slow process, a phenomenon echoed in sectors such as law and banking.
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The Big Four have all set goals in recent years to increase their proportions of female partners and, in turn, help to reduce their gender pay gaps, with women tending to account for less than a fifth of that rank in the UK towards the end of the 2010s.
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PwC is 3 percentage points shy of its 2025 goal of a 30 per cent UK female partnership according to its most recent data. The figure has increased by 1 to 2 percentage points per year since 2021, meaning it would require a bigger leap forward to close the gap before PwC reports its new figures later this year.
KPMG and Deloitte have already met their own targets in the UK. The former was the first of the Big Four to publish gender diversity data just over a decade ago, and surpassed an interim 25 per cent goal in 2022. It had a 29 per cent female partnership in the UK in 2023.
And Deloitte reported last year that 30 per cent of its partners were women, ahead of its 2025 deadline to hit that figure.
However both firms are on track to miss global partnership targets – goals that PwC and EY do not have.
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The Big Four have argued that boosting the number of female partners takes time, owing to the need to build a pipeline of candidates with sufficient experience to be promoted.
Karl Edge, chief people officer at KPMG UK, said the firm was “committed to creating an inclusive environment”, adding: “While progress may fluctuate, we’re focused on reaching better representation across all levels of our firm, challenging ourselves to go further and faster.”
KPMG International said it would “continue to build on the momentum” for gender equality, which remains “a strategic priority”.
Jackie Henry, managing partner for people and purpose at Deloitte UK, said the firm was “proud” of meeting its 2025 target a year early. “But ... we will continue to hold ourselves accountable and to strive for greater gender equality.”
EY and PwC declined to comment.
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