AAT closes gender pay gap as women take up senior roles

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AAT has published two new reports that underline our commitment to equal opportunities and pay.

Our latest gender pay gap report shows that the gap between the average hourly pay of men and women has tilted in favour of the latter.

While our second voluntary report on the ethnicity pay gap shows marginal improvements.

The gender pay gap improves

The mean gender pay gap has decreased from 3.5% in 2021 to –0.2% in 2022, due largely due to a higher proportion of women in senior roles within the organisation.

During the year, Chief Executive Sarah Beale (pictured) joined AAT, along with a number of other women on the executive and senior management teams. This is in line with a goal to have women in 45% of senior positions.

Overall, the proportion of women in the business increased to 51%.

However, another measure – the median pay gap – shows that AAT still has work to do.  This measure is more complex than average pay. It takes all salaries in the sample, lines them up in order from lowest to highest, and picks the middle salary to compare.  

The median pay gap has increased from 7.4% in 2021 to 9.8%.

More action is needed

Having seen an increase in the median pay gap, AAT will analyse the data to understand what is driving that increase and establish what actions could reduce it.

Adam Harper, Director of Professional Standards and Policy, and Executive Sponsor for Race, AAT, commented: 

“AAT was the first professional accountancy body to sign up to the Women in Finance Charter and with 63% of our professional members being female, we are at the forefront on gender equality in the financial sector.

“We’re delighted that AAT has exceeded its Women in Finance Charter supported by the work that we have undertaken to champion diversity and equality both within the organisation and among our wider membership for many years now.

“Whilst there have been some positive changes since 2021, it remains vital that we back this data up with action. That’s why we’ve set out our plan of action and how we are continuing to work to put diversity and inclusion at the heart of everything we do”

Ethnicity pay report shows small improvements

AAT has also published its second ethnicity pay gap report, highlighting our commitment to Diversity and Inclusion (D&I). 

The mean ethnicity pay gap declined slightly, from 24.9% in 2021 to 24% in 2022, while the median ethnicity pay gap declined from 23.9% to 23.6%.

To address these gaps, AAT has already put measures in place and set out a further plan of action, demonstrating the organisation’s commitment to D&I. Initiatives include: 

  • Delivering on our commitments as signatories to the Race at Work Charter.
  • Appointing an Executive Sponsor for Race to help support the development of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) employees across the organisation.
  • An increased target of 45% of women in senior roles by 2022.
  • Implementing a new HR system to improve data collection and analysis.
  • Working with ENEI (the Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion) to facilitate anonymous listening sessions and gather feedback around barriers to progression for ethnic minority staff.

Championing change

AAT will continue working to improve prospects for female and ethnic minority colleagues. We want to drive improvements and be accountantable for improving our results. So we will continue to publish our gender and ethnicity pay gap data annually.

We encourage AAT members  in all areas to consider how their organisations could make a contribution in these areas.

The full gender and ethnicity pay gap reports can be found on the AAT website.

David Nunn is a former Content Manager at AAT.

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