By Christian Koch Members “I’ve been the only female accountant in too many rooms, too many times” 5 Mar 2026 As International Women’s Day approaches, we take stock of the current issues impacting gender equality in accounting. When AAT President Lucy Cohen founded Mazuma in 2006, she was justifiably proud: at the time few women had started accountancy firms, let alone at the age of 23. At her first networking event, she expected a level playing-field. What she found was very different. “One of the first people I spoke to asked me, ‘Is this your dad’s company?’” she recalls. “I’d previously worked for an all-female accounts team with really strong women: nothing there ever suggested I shouldn’t be as good as men. But when I started going out into the wider world, I noticed firm owners tended to be male. Since then, I’ve often been the only woman in too many rooms, too many times.” Of her early encounters with bias, she says, “I think it taught me some lessons – I need to work harder than my male counterparts. I’ve had to go into rooms and be absolutely undeniable.“ International Women’s Day (IWD) on 8 March offers a moment for the industry to take stock of gender equality in accounting. Industry overview At first glance, it could appear the UK accounting industry has stamped out gender inequality over the last 20 years. After all, nearly half (45.5%) of all accountancy jobs in the UK are now held by women, according to the Office of National Statistics’ (ONS). But at the top, it’s a different story. Just 12% of the UK’s top 100 accounting firms have female leaders – a drop of 20% in one year, according to Accountancy Age’s 2024 rankings. “There’s still a huge gender gap in accountancy. Less than 2% of venture capital funding goes to female-founded companies in the UK. My company is one of them. That’s not representative of the talent pool at all,” says Cohen. From the pipeline problem to the salary divide, here’s some of the main issues impacting gender equality in accounting right now. Few women at the top, but there’s been some progress The Accountancy Age data on female leadership mirrors other sectors too: there are only nine female bosses at FTSE 100 companies, according to the recent FTSE Women Leaders Review. Female partnership also has room to grow. The average percentage of female partners at the top 100 firms is just 24%, according to Accountancy Age. Still, there are increases: Forvis Mazars and KPMG have the highest proportion at 29% (compared to just 15% at KPMG in 2015) PwC has 28%, up from 22% in 2020. There have also been several high-profile female appointees in the last 18 months, including EY’s Anna Anthony, the first permanent female big four CEO and Alison Duncan, the firm’s first-ever female chair. Careers curtailed by caring Why aren’t women getting the top jobs? One theory is many women are leaving the partnership track in their 30s and early-40s: the age people typically step into more senior executive positions. Some are taking time out to have children. Some leave because they end up shouldering more housework and childcare responsibilities than their male peers. ONS stats show women in the UK do almost 50% more unpaid domestic and care work than men. In a 2025 Chartered Accountants Worldwide report, 42% of female chartered accountants with children aged five-to-nine said being a parent was the biggest hurdle to career progression. Accounting’s cyclical calendar makes it hard for parents to balance work and family commitments during year-ends and self-assessments. Many woman accountants avoid taking annual leave due to concerns over handovers (41%) or frequently sacrifice work-life balance to accommodate others (88%), according to accountancy charity Caba. With mothers losing an average of £65,618 in pay by the time their first child turns five, the ‘motherhood penalty’ in the UK is huge. Parental leave is another problem: only a small number of employed fathers take their entitlement to share up to 50 weeks with their partner. Gender pay gap The salary divide in accountancy remains stark. Last year, Bloomberg analysis of government data found that women working in financial services earned just 78p for every £1 made by men. This 22p difference is twice the UK-wide pay gap. Soon-to-be-released data from AAT’s own salary survey also shows a persistent gender pay gap across its members and students. However, AAT members have a far more level playing field than the wider sector, a result of our focus on opening up access and the diversity of our membership and student base. Across all industries, full-time female employees are paid 6.9% less than male ones. At big four firms, this gap is wider: KPMG has a 14.7% gender pay gap; at Deloitte it’s 11.9% (it also reports a 41.7% bonus gap). Rollbacks on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies Corporate inclusion initiatives surged in the early-2020s. However, following President Trump’s anti-DEI orders in the US, corporations including Amazon, Disney and Google scaled back their diversity policies. Here in the UK, 54% of businesses adjusted their approach to ethical policies and practices last year, according to research by law firm Freeths. Cohen has expressed concern, telling the Business in Wales podcast that “Any change in any industry tends to be underpinned by a change in legislation, which is why it’s so terrifying to see DEI rolled back from some of the largest accounting firms on the globe. “When we look at the kind of swing of politics we’ve had and DEI programs getting slashed, our position as women in accountancy is precarious because we don’t have the support, we don’t have the numbers at senior level.” Last year Deloitte US said it would push back on its DEI targets, but the firm’s UK arm reaffirmed its diversity commitments and still runs inclusion networks and reports on progress. Health issues Taboos around women’s health also limit career progression. A Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) report from November found many women in accounting are reluctant to discuss menopause, menstruation or miscarriage and often make career decisions based on reproductive health. Workplace support could improve: interviewees said poor privacy, a lack of personal care breaks, unsuitable office layouts and inflexible temperatures all caused discomfort at work. Many women also viewed their company menopause policies as tokenistic. Diversity is the right thing for business Ultimately, improving gender equality in accountancy isn’t just the right thing to do but increasingly the right business thing to do as well. Research from consulting firm McKinsey & Company shows that companies with gender-diverse boards are 25% more likely to be more profitable than their peers. When embedded properly, diversity can drive innovation (research by Deloitte found inclusive companies are 1.7 times as likely to be viewed as innovation leaders in their sector), minimise groupthink, strengthen decision-making, foster a more motivated workplace, attract top talent and allow practices to reach a broader mix of customers. The theme for this year’s IWD is ‘Give to Gain’ and it’s clear those accountancy firms and finance teams who give by investing in equality today will be the ones most likely to gain by thriving tomorrow. Christian Koch is an award-winning journalist/editor who has written for the Evening Standard, Sunday Times, Guardian, Telegraph, The Independent, Q, The Face and Metro. He's also written about business for Accounting Technician, 20 and Director, where he is contributing editor.