We’re living in very bizarre times. Politically the world is a hugely unstable place, the Earth is losing animal species at 1,000 to 10,000 times the natural rate due to climate change and businesses are also facing their own threats. High street retail is in rapid decline, manufacturing and automotive industries are suffering and often the fingers that look for blame point directly at the auditors. They themselves have their own challenges as they try to adjust (or perhaps ‘correct’ is a better phrase) their diversity and inclusion policies as well as keep apace with new regulation. The media is full of negative stories regarding the Big4 especially but hopefully this will act as a springboard for positive change as it feels that as well as uncertainty and perhaps some fear in the air there is also hope for this positive change across Politics, the Environment and Business alike.

We should be excited for the generation currently in their teens and 20s who are driving this change and won’t stand for insufficient, inappropriate or unfair action. There are lots of articles about how Millennials are fickle and lack a strong work ethic but that is a gross generalisation and perhaps they are more fluid with their career choices because they won’t stick in a role for security if it disagrees with their own personal ethics. A jumpy CV doesn’t look great and is considered by the baby boomers as a big “no no” but the reasons behind such moves could perhaps be worth listening to before judgements are made. Times are changing and more and more people are moving and voting with their feet based on their own passions, ideals and aspirations not only for themselves but for the common good and those steps should be commended.

The gender pay gap and the lack of women in boardrooms are topics currently dominating the headlines. Back in October last year not only was the #metoo campaign born but the UK government also launched an inquiry into the number of women working in finance.

Working in accountancy practice recruitment I can see there are definitely fewer women at these higher levels but why? Here are a couple of ideas why.

Firstly, women are less attracted to financial services as it is still viewed as a male dominated industry, so in terms of competition, there are fewer women competing for these top spots in the first place. I’d argue that in order to increase the talent pool more women need to be encouraged into financial services while still at school and choosing their AS level subjects and university courses to direct them towards completing their ACA or ACCA. Both sexes need to be educated about the different opportunities available to them and ignore any gender stereotyping.  While at school I certainly was unaware of the different types of roles available within finance. It’s not all number crunching, for example strategy, cyber security, and origination are all areas which require totally different skills sets. From a recruitment perspective it’s hard to deliver a 50% female representation for the higher grades when the pool is not split 50-50 in the first place so positive discrimination comes into play.

Secondly, by the time women are reaching senior manager level it coincides with the best biological window to start a family and some women decide to not return to work or to change their job to accommodate their new family. Some women are able to return to full time work again and continue to progress with only a short delay but more often than not some kind of balance is required.

On this point I do think the larger consultancies are working very hard to make the workplace more flexible for mothers to return to with flexi working hours, the opportunity to work from home and the ability to share maternity leave with a partner.  They appreciate that in order to retain their female staff, and in turn create a more diverse and profitable business, these benefits need to be offered. Hopefully with changes such as these and with support from the government we can expect to see more senior female leadership in financial services and beyond. Currently 205 Firms in the UK have signed up to the Women in Finance charter which pledges to have at least 30% women in senior roles by 2021 and of those, 40 firms have committed to a 50/50 gender split in senior roles by 2021 so watch this space!

In an age of multiculturalism and globalisation it is fantastic to see the diversity within organisations and the evermore interconnected world and economy. The nature of the workplace is changing and evolving and therefore it is important that organisations adapt to a multicultural work environment. Diversity has great potential and benefits in the global economy which means companies must look for ways to be inclusive and embrace different cultures. Within a multicultural workplace it is important to understand these differences, respect them and look at the opportunities they bring!

A diverse work culture is great because it opens up a larger pool of resources, learning styles, skills and opinions. With diversity comes different perspective on situations and different ways of solving problems, which increases the potential and scope of a company. Among employees it encourages sharing new languages, ideas and interests as well as cultural traditions or festivals. Workplace diversity can create better cultural understandings, facilitating a more worldly perspective, which is of course very valuable in the global economy. The more multicultural an organization is the more opportunities for learning and growth it has as well as having benefits of adaptability an increased respect in the workplace. Overall, by becoming more inclusive and embracing diversity we increase our capabilities not only in business but as individuals.

Here at William Scott Associates we enjoy interacting and working with people from all backgrounds from across the world. It is clear that we should celebrate diversity and difference to learn more about the amazing world around us and become more interconnected.

Done 3 years or more in audit and want to transition into the advisory world but don’t have the experience? I hear this a lot and genuinely am keen to help candidates make this step however it’s not easy. My best advice is to gain any experience you can within the firm you are in. Put your hand up to do an internal rotation or secondment to another team in the advisory space. One of the Big4 won’t look at vanilla audit seniors with zero TS/CF exposure for a role in those teams because they can source those people internally. So make yourself accessible within the firm you are in and network with the right people. Then once you have the experience you can look to navigate your way into a new permanent role at another firm.