Deloitte trails big 4 on gender pay, PwC best in class
While women earn less overall than men at all big four consulting firms, the size of pay gaps varied across the major firms.
Deloitte’s gender pay gap is more than four times as great as PwC’s, according to data published by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency.
For the first time, all private Australian companies with 100 or more employees were required to make public their gender pay performance data. While all big four consulting firms had pay gaps lower than the national average of 21.7 per cent, some edged a lot closer than others.
The WGEA shared data on median base salaries and median total remuneration. Total remuneration includes base salary and bonuses, superannuation, overtime pay and other earnings. In reverse order, from highest earnings gaps to lowest, here is how the big four consulting firms sized up. The data excludes partners' earnings.
Of the big four, Deloitte had the greatest earnings gap in favour of male employees at 16.7 per cent for both median base salary and median total remuneration. While the workforce composition is evenly split by gender, men account for 62 per cent of upper-quartile earners.
Women make up 51 per cent of upper-middle earners, 60 per cent of lower-middle earners, and 53 per cent of lower-quartile earners. According to Deloitte, women comprise 46 per cent of senior managers, 39 per cent of directors and 33 per cent of partners.
In responding to the data, Deloitte said: “Our gender pay gaps are at their core, a gender representation issue.”
“While we have an even number of men and women working at Deloitte, we have a higher concentration of men working in our most senior employee role levels.”
EY had the second-greatest earnings gap between male and female employees with a median base salary gap of 15.9 per cent and a median total remuneration gap of 15.4 per cent. Women make up 51 per cent of the total workforce at the company and yet comprise only 40 per cent of earners in the upper quartile.
The upper-middle quartile is evenly split while women account for 58 per cent of the lower-middle quartile and 56 per cent of the bottom 25 per cent of earners. EY Oceania has a pay parity gap of 0.8 per cent, meaning men are paid slightly more for the same or similar work as done by women.
“The gender pay gap is a consequence of a range of societal, industrial, and organisational factors that combine to reduce women’s earning capacity,” said EY.
“Industry themes are likewise evident within EY Australia, such as women representing 88 per cent of EY Australia’s part-time workforce and a higher proportion of technology implementation roles held by men, as examples.”
KPMG Australia had the third-highest gender pay gap of the big four, with a median salary gap of 12.9 per cent and a median total remuneration gap of 13.7 per cent – both in favour of men. Women made up 51 per cent of KPMG’s workforce and yet only 41 per cent of earners in the top quartile.
Fifty-three per cent of upper-middle quartile earners were female and so were 59 per cent and 52 per cent of lower-middle and lower-quartile earners, respectively. KPMG did not provide an optional employer statement to accompany these findings.
PwC led the big four in having the lowest earning gaps between male and female employees with a base salary gap of four per cent and a total remuneration gap of 3.9 per cent. PwC’s workforce is 53 per cent female, while women account for only 47 per cent of earners in the upper quartile.
This means they are underrepresented among top earners. PwC is the only big four firm whose lower quartile earners are more male than female (at 51 and 49 per cent, respectively). PwC did not publish an optional employer statement.
Accounting bodies
The gender pay gap data of major accounting bodies were also made public in the WGEA data release.
CPA Australia had a base salary gap of 14.9 per cent in favour of men, while their median total remuneration gap was 16.2 per cent. While the upper earnings quartile was evenly split between men and women, the company is majority female (65 per cent). In other words, men were overrepresented among their top earners.
Women accounted for three-quarters of CPA Australia's lower quartile earners. The body did not provide a statement to the WGEA but did tell Accounting Times it plans to undertake a "systemic review" of its remuneration and incentive strategy framework, which it anticipates will positive impact on its gender pay gap.
CA ANZ, on the other hand, had no base salary gap and a total remuneration gap of only 0.5 per cent. At the same time, however, the average pay gap is 17.3 per cent for base salary and 17.1 per cent for total remuneration.
In accounting for the disparity, CA ANZ said its workforce composition is “heavily skewed towards women,” making up 55 per cent of their employees.
Therefore, "even minor employee movements, particularly related to men, can have a noticeable impact on our pay gap,” said CA ANZ.
