Better for our people

We are retaining talented women

Many businesses lose talented women when demands at work and home conflict. Initiatives such as our annual Retaining Talented Women conference have helped us understand the problems women face and find solutions.

Now we are expanding the agenda from understanding what we need to do to retain women, to supporting their progression to the top.

There are already successes, 19% of directors and 32% of senior managers are women. In some parts of the business this figure is higher, for example, within our Forensic practice, where 41% of senior managers are women.There are areas for focus too. The number of women partners has remained static at 13%, for example. This isn’t good enough – especially as we were first among our UK competitors to have a woman on the Board – and we are investing in practical solutions, such as the women’s development programme launched this year.

Accountant of the Year: Catherine Burnet

Accountancy Age ‘Accountant of the Year 2007’ Catherine Burnet juggles a high–pressure job as the leader of the HBOS Group Audit team with a busy family life.”

20%

increase in profit for the 2007 financial year to £447 million