Tuesday 05 June 2018 9:38 am

Deloitte announces reduced UK partner promotions round

Big four accountant Deloitte has announced a reduced 2018 partner promotions round with the number making the grade in the UK and north west Europe both dipping.

Partner promotions in the UK fell five per cent from 57 last year to 54 in 2018.

The number and percentage of new female partners in the UK also fell, with 11 (20 per cent) promoted this year, compared to 13 (23 per cent) last year.

Nine per cent of the new partners are black, asian, and minority ethnic (BAME), down from the 11 per cent promoted last year, but more than the partnership average which stands at five per cent.

Deloitte has a target of 25 per cent female partners by 2020 and 40 per cent female partners by 2030. It has also committed to having 10 per cent of BAME partners by 2021.

Emma Codd, managing partner for talent of Deloitte UK and Deloitte north west Europe said:

“In order to achieve our aims on both gender and ethnicity we are continuing to focus on ensuring that we continue to provide a truly modernised workplace and inclusive culture, underpinned at all times by respect. We are clear that this continued focus on culture – along with specific targeted actions aimed at various points in our career lifecycle – will enable us to achieve our diversity aims.”

The new promotions take Deloitte in the UK to 1,034 partners. The firm also hired 34 new partners during the financial year.

Seventeen of the new partners are in the firm’s audit and risk advisory business, 14 are in consulting, 13 in tax and 10 in financial advisory.

Forty-one of the new partners are based in London.

In the north west Europe region, partner promotions fell by nearly nine per cent, from 149 in 2017 to 136 this year.

Deloitte north west Europe consists of the firm’s Belgian, Dutch, Nordics, Swiss, and UK firms which came together on 1 June 2017, with Ireland joining on June 1 2018.

The combined firm now has 2,300 partners and over 35,000 employees in total.