Celebrating excellence in the accounting profession, Accountancy Age's Top 50+50 2024 spotlights the top accountancy firms in the UK. Brought to you in partnership with Source Advisors.
The number of firms with female leaders within the UK’s top 100 has dropped 20% to 12.
However, the number of firms with 40%+ female partners has increased by 28%. In 2023, only 7 firms reported 40% or more of their partners were women, the same as in 2022.
A total of nine firms now report having 40% or more female partners, with Ellacotts – the only firm to have breached this milestone for three years in a row – and Thompson Wright reporting a 50/50 split.
The average across the 100 firms was 24%.
Among the top ten this year, Forvis Mazars reported the highest percentage of female partners at 29%. They were followed by RSM at 28%.
Among the Big Four, only PwC provided figures, reporting 27% of female partners.
The UK accounting profession has made strides toward gender diversity – 83 firms reported having a dedicated DEI policy in place. However, significant disparities persist, particularly in senior positions. While women constitute nearly half of all qualified accountants, their representation diminishes at higher levels of leadership.
This underrepresentation is evident in the leadership structures of major firms. In 2023, none of the UK’s Big Four accounting firms—PwC, Deloitte, EY, and KPMG—had a female senior partner or chair.
Notably, PwC’s leadership election in 2022 resulted in the appointment of Marco Amitrano as senior partner, chosen from a shortlist that included two female candidates, Laura Hinton and Hemione Hudson.
2024 did see progress, however. EY has appointed financial services boss Anna Anthony as its new UK managing partner after a three-way race to lead the firm. Anthony will become the first woman to permanently run a Big Four operation day-to-day in the UK when she takes up her new role in January.
While the percentage of female partners remains disappointing for an industry attempting to revamp its image, the percentage of female qualified accountants does seem to be on the rise. Across the top 100 firms, the average percentage of female qualified UK accountants was 41%.
A total of 48 firms reported more than 40% of their qualified accountants being women, with Forvis Mazars topping the ranking with 72%. They were followed by Old Mill (65%), James Cowper Kreston (64%) and PM+M (63%). Two firms reported having 0% female qualified accountants, with these firms reporting female partners at 33% and 15% respectively.
Diversity remains an issue for the profession outside of gender. Of the 62 firms that reported information on the ethnic diversity of their partners, 21 reported 0%. The average across the 62 was just over 10%.
From the big four, both PwC and EY reported above the average with 14% and 18% of their UK partners coming from an ethnic minority.
As with the gender split, figures for qualified accountants were better – of 57 firms that reported, 17% of their qualified accountants came from an ethnic minority.
