Accountants hit gender pay balance split
Accountants and business advisors Beever and Struthers has achieved an almost perfect 50-50 split in pay balance for male and female colleagues.
Research carried out by the firm across its offices in Manchester and Blackburn showed there was a near equal 50-50 division in pay between male and female staff within each quartile of the gender pay gap report.
Employing a total of 81 men and 72 women for gender pay gap reporting criteria across its office network, the firm’s calculations showed the female mean hourly pay rate for 2019 was minus 2.1 per cent lower than that of men. So, when comparing mean hourly rates, women earned £1.02 for every £1 earned by men.
In terms of the median hourly rate, the hourly rate for women was 1.4 per cent lower than that of their male counterparts, equating to women earning £0.98p for each £1 earned by males.
The conclusions for 2019 showed an improvement on the same calculations for 2018 when the mean hourly rate for women was minus 5.5 per cent lower for women than their male counterparts, with the median hourly rate for women being minus one per cent lower than that for men.
The gender pay equality at Beever and Struthers positions the firm as a leader in equal pay among finance firms and the wider corporate community, both in the North West of England and nationwide.
Latest statistics on gender pay gap reporting from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) – following a deadline for businesses to report of midnight 4 April 2019 show a median hourly gap of 23.9 per cent in the national finance and insurance activities sector in 2018-19, the second highest gap between male and female remuneration of any sector of business meaning for every pound men earn, women earn 76p.
And the headline median gender pay gap revealed by the CIPD was 9.6 per cent in 2018-19, up by 0.4 per cent on the figure for 2017-18
In the North West of England, the CIPD reported that responses from 1,030 businesses revealed a median hourly gap of 6 per cent, a narrowing of the gap from 6.3 per cent in 2017-18.
The CIPD highlighted a suggested North/South pay divide because gender pay gaps are lower in the North where sectors including health are over-represented and industries with large pay gaps including finance are under-represented.
Jo Rigby, HR director at Beever and Struthers said: “Our split of female to male pay has improved from the previous 12 months to an almost perfect 50-50 split in each quartile
“Whilst Beever and Struthers is not legally required to report on the gender pay gap because we employ less than 250 people, the firm places a strong focus on equality and found the pay gap report to be a helpful way of understanding why there is a gap and how to make changes to ensure that equality is present across the firm.
“We are a progressive and modern employer and while we’re very proud of these results, our fundamental aim continues to be to recruit the right person for the right role regardless of gender or any other characteristic under the Equality Act and to provide equal opportunity for all.”
