FOI REF: FOI-2023-1401
You asked
I would like to know approximately, what percentage of women are there in the accountancy industry compared to men in each of the following categories:
- Accountant– % Female
- Audit Manager or Senior– % Female
- Tax manager or Senior – % Female
- Bookkeeper – % Female
we said
Thank you for your query regarding the number of women in accountancy compared to men.
In the UK, industries are classified using the Standard Industrial Classification 2007 (SIC 2007). Of most relevance to your query is SIC Group 69.2: "Accounting, book-keeping and auditing; tax consultancy".
The preferred measure of employment by industry in the UK is Workforce Jobs, with estimates published on a quarterly basis in the following table: JOBS03. At this level of industry breakdown, estimates can only be provided for Great Britain. The latest data available, for the period April to June 2023, estimates 45.5% of the jobs in the "Accounting, book-keeping and auditing; tax consultancy" industry are occupied by women.
Estimates of employment by occupation may also be of interest to you. Occupations in the UK are classified using the Standard Occupation Classification 2020 (SOC 2020). Estimates of occupation for the UK are available from the Annual Population Survey (APS) and published quarterly on a rolling-annual basis via Nomis. The occupations of most relevance to your query are the Group 242 "Finance Professionals", and the underlying Unit Groups 2421 "Chartered and certified accountants", 2422 "Finance and investment analysts and advisors", and 2423 "Taxation experts". Unit Group 4122 "Bookkeepers, payroll managers and wages clerks" may also be of interest.
The latest available data, for the year to March 2023, shows the percentage of women employed in each occupation is as follows:
242 Finance Professionals, 41.1% women, consisting of:
2421 Chartered and certified accountants, 44.6% women
2422 Finance and investment analysts and advisors, 37.5% women
2423 Taxation experts, 45.3% women
4122 Book-keepers, payroll managers, and wages clerks, 69.5% women
If you wish to obtain any further information from the Annual Population Survey, you can request an ad-hoc analysis to be produced by contacting our social surveys team. We may charge for this service, in line with our charging policy, depending on the amount of time taken to develop the analyses and undertake quality and disclosure control processes.