When the UK’s largest accountancy firm shortlisted the heads of tax and audit who happen to be women for the top job, there was some hopes the male dominated Big Four would change.

PwC could have become the first of the Big Four to be led by a woman. In 2024, for the very first time, two women partners – head of tax Lauren Hinton and head of audit and reputation, Hemione Hudson – were shortlisted as candidates for senior partner to succeed outgoing chair Kevin Ellis. Both are also members of the firm’s management board. However, in the event, a male partner Marco Amitrano was elected.

Being on the shortlist was a remarkable achievement, and the success of both candidates is certainly something to celebrate. However, concurrent to the achievements of these women, it is hard to ignore what else this moment tells us: women’s success in the boardroom is far from the norm.

We are almost a quarter of the way into the 21st century and a household name is breaking this corner of the glass ceiling for only the first time – and not only for itself, but for its peers too. A woman chairing one of the Big Four should not make for national reporting.

But it has – and the gender parity problem in senior positions is not consigned to the Big Four, nor accountancy only. Research from The Pipeline’s Women Count report revealed that women make up just 9% of CEOs across the FTSE 350.

Accountancy is no outlier. Despite nearly half of those qualifying as accountants in recent years being women, the gender representation is yet to translate throughout the strata of accountancy firms: the latest Accountancy Daily research showed that partnership positions are 75% male.

Outside the gender balance at the top of large audit firms themselves, positions with profit- and loss-making responsibilities like CFO are a crucial stepping stone to CEO.

Yet although the proportion of women holding CFO roles in the FTSE 350 had already reached 16% four years ago, it has hardly moved at all in the proceeding years, and now stands at 18% (compared to a growth in female CEOs from 4% to 9% in the same time period).

Clearly, there is a problem of translating women’s skills from a pipeline of talent to the top jobs at play. Certainly, in accountancy at least, it’s not for a lack of women working in the sector. So, what is there to do about it?

Some 47% of respondents to Women Count’s senior women survey identified workplace environment and culture-related issues as one of the three biggest obstacles to their development in leadership roles. In the wake of the government’s Sexism in the City inquiry and the recent Garrick Club exposé this will come as a surprise to few.

Sexism is of course unacceptable in any setting but firms must look past the obvious – for example, working to eliminate exclusionary networking. Most networking events assume a freedom of choice outside of workplace responsibilities.

Happily, men are increasingly engaged with the caring obligations that challenge women’s abilities to engage with socials outside of normal working hours, but those at the top of a firm are likely to have the resources to make them more manageable.

Women in the workplace often face the ‘woman tax’, too. This is when senior women feel the responsibility to accept additional tasks outside the remit of their role, often in the HR space.

These positions are important – acting as role models or to promote an inclusivity agenda – but when women feel that if they do not accept these additional responsibilities, it could impede their career progression, a gear shift is needed. At the very least women must be assured, that their ‘day job’ is enough.

Each workplace obstacle translates to a clear message to the working woman: your career is expendable. In fact, almost half (44%) of the respondents to the survey believed their organisation was not putting enough emphasis on supporting women to achieve their career goals.

It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but conversely, it also means that we don’t need to wait for the discovery of some silver bullet to solve accountancy’s gender parity problem.

Eliminate exclusionary networking and the ‘woman tax’. Firms can also invest in sponsorship opportunities for women developing their careers. Having influential people advocate for a protégé’s career development can secure otherwise inaccessible business visibility and recognition for work that results in promotion.

A recent Harvard Business Review report showed that women are 54% less likely than men to have a sponsor. Firms that advocate for sponsorship programmes tailored to women in their teams will be supporting the creation of a more equitable workplace and paving the way for more women to rise to partnership and beyond.

Accountancy is struggling to harness its pipeline of female talent but change is effected by simple, tangible solutions.

Industries in the FTSE 350 including health, transport and insurance, have already achieved 40% women’s representation on executive committees.

Let’s now make accountancy the next to hit this milestone.

About the author

Professor Geeta Nargund is chair of The Pipeline