Glass ceiling remains intact for women in top accountancy firms

You got 500+ points in your Leaving Cert, aced your accountancy exams, and are well on your way to setting the world of professional services alight.

But wait, you’re female, so maybe it’s time to downgrade those career expectations. Sound like a crazy statement in 2014? Perhaps, but unfortunately, the statistics still support this view.

Indeed this year, more female graduates than male will join a Big Four firm, and at some firms, such as Deloitte, females will continue to outnumber their male counterparts once they qualify and are promoted to manager level.

Thereafter, however, the ratio jumps overwhelmingly in favour of men. But can the trend be reversed?

KPMG managing partner Shaun Murphy certainly hopes so. He has set out a new strategy for the partnership's Irish operations: boost female participation at equity partner level to 30 per cent by 2030.

But why, if the business is growing so strongly – and KPMG saw its revenues rise by 11.5 per cent in 2013, while EY most recently reported growth of 17.3 per cent in the year to June 2014 – should Big Four companies such as KPMG care about the representation of females in their organisations?

For Murphy, it comes down to a number of factors, one of which is the importance of retaining talent. “What clients are fundamentally buying is talent and we want to have the widest talent pool available.”

But possibly a more pressing concern is that clients are now demanding it. A male audit team pitching to a female finance director might be on the back foot before they even start their presentation.

“As a business we need to face off in a way that they think is right,” says Murphy.

At first glance, his goal of having three female partners for every seven male counterparts doesn’t seem too big an ask. Indeed when you consider that females enter the firm in the same numbers as males at graduate intake level – and more are promoted to manager level – it would seem that Murphy’s goal would be a no-brainer to achieve.

However, the firm has failed to maintain this ratio, despite the high volume of females entering the profession over the past 20 years, and today females account for just 15 per cent, or 12, out of its 77 Irish partners. And KPMG is not alone, with both Deloitte and E&Y having a similar gender ratio at partner level, although PwC is a bit of an outlier in this regard, with females accounting for a quarter of its partnership.

Fifteen per cent is an important ratio, because as Rosabeth Kanter suggested as far back as 1977; below this level women may be viewed as simply "tokens".

She asserted that when more women are hired to similar positions, women lose their token status, leading to a positive social dynamic that makes it easier to recruit, train, and motivate additional women.

Why is the trend persisting?

At the lower levels of a Big Four company, females dominate, with women accounting for slightly over 50 per cent of KPMG’s graduate intake for example, up from about 40 per cent six or seven years ago.

Moreover, women routinely distinguish themselves in accountancy exams.

“It’s predominantly female trainees winning those prizes. There is no question that the talent is there,” says Murphy.

And the ratio remains favourable at manager level, but it is at director level that the gender imbalance really opens up.

As female employees start having children and start looking for more flexible working hours, the figures show that many end up either leaving the company or not progressing within it. And even when females leave professional services for industry, they’re not necessarily working their way up there either.

As The Irish Times Top1000 survey on gender diversity showed in June, just 16 per cent of finance director/chief financial officer roles among Ireland's largest 1,000 companies are held by women.

As Murphy notes, “people frequently find that industry isn’t typically different”.

For Dearbhalla Baviera, an executive coach with Clearbird and a former Big Four firm employee herself, a core problem with the poor numbers at senior level is that women typically have three career phases – and it is the core mid-career stage that many women are struggling with.

“The typical career path is traditional and linear and suits males,” she says. “Men are coming into their own at that stage and are ready to take off, but a lot of women are leaving the workforce due to conflicting priorities.”

And the women who do stay in their careers, focus on getting the work done – but not on promoting themselves.

“Professional mums put their head down as they often need to get out at 5pm. They think their work will speak for itself, but unfortunately sometimes it doesn’t, which leads to more frustration,” she says, adding: “It is in the interest of large firms to recognise that the mid-career phase is different and challenging for women. If they’re seriously committed to improving gender diversity then there is a fundamental shift and support that needs to happen”.

What can be done about it?

Shorter working hours is one strategy that Big Four firms have pursued. While job-sharing isn’t really an option in the profession – “it doesn’t work for client-facing roles” – Murphy says that a core-hours type model can work in professional services, noting employees can come in early and leave early, but are still available – if necessary – in the evening.

“If it’s a talented individual and we want to keep them, we can cut their client portfolio in a way so that they can concentrate on specific clients.”

However, working restricted hours is not necessarily a route to partnership.

“Is it possible for a talented senior person to work as rigidly as that in professional services? It’s difficult,” says Murphy, but he adds that progressing in professional services is “not about working all the hours” either.

“It’s about availability and commitment,” he says, noting the concept of absolute commitment can be overstated.

“It isn’t a 24-hour commitment; it is at times but it isn’t an everyday thing.”

The culture of a Big Four firm can also be challenging, where if a professional takes their foot off the pedal for a few years and is not seen to be progressing up the ladder, then it can be difficult to rev up their career again at a later stage when they are in a better position to do so.

Murphy agrees perception may also be a problem Big Four firms have to address.

“There is an element of some talented women looking up the chain . . . are we projecting out the right role models?

Role models

“As an equity partner in the firm it’s a great position to be in, but I’m not sure we project that role model right,” says Murphy, noting that reaching such a level gives a professional greater freedom over controlling their work-life balance.

But there may finally be a momentum emerging that will finally tip the balance – not all the way, but past that key 15 per cent level in favour of women.

As Murphy notes: “We have to decide whether we’d like none of somebody’s talent, or are we happy to live with a portion of that talent?

“We have to be a little bit more flexible in our approach.”