From the Financial Times:
KPMG is the only Big Four accounting firm [in the U.K.] to have failed to close its gender pay gap over the past 12 months, with the median gap between what its male and female staff earn increasing to 28 per cent.
The other three firms, EY, PwC and Deloitte, all have much lower “total earnings gaps” — which includes the pay of employees and partners — and succeeded in closing them slightly year on year.
Not that the median total pay gaps at the other Big 4 firms are anything to write home about. EY’s dropped from 19.5% to 18.9% over the same period. Whoopee. PwC’s dropped to 18%, and Deloitte’s fell to 14%.
But KPMG’s median total pay gap rose from 27% to 28%. How the hell did this happen?
KPMG said its gender pay gap stemmed from the fact it has more men than women in senior roles, with women accounting for less than a fifth of its 635 partners.
The firm added it has a higher ratio of HR, finance and secretarial staff employed in the UK than its three largest rivals, and the majority of people in these roles — which tend to be lower-paid than other areas of the business — are women.
That and KPMG U.K. seems to have a bit of a problem promoting and retaining women. As a partner at a rival firm told the Financial Times, KPMG is “basically an old boys club.”
But don’t worry, lady Klynveldians—reducing that gulf between men’s and women’s pay “is a priority for us as a firm,” Anna Purchas, head of people at KPMG U.K., told FT.
