Submitted by
Sestini & Co | on Tue, 11/08/2016 - 12:06 | In
Accounting and systems
Designed to “improve gender diversity at senior levels”, the Women in Finance Charter was launched in spring 2016 by HM Treasury and to date almost 100 firms have signed up, including Sestini & Co.
Managing director of Sestini & Co, Rachel Sestini, comments, “Our firm of specialist tax and accountancy individuals includes a mix of male and female professionals. Our three most senior employees in the firm, including myself, are women who have all worked for Big Four accountancy firms and as well as our professional chartered qualifications, have degrees from top UK universities.
“We employ based on qualifications, skills, experience and attitude, not gender bias, and are fortunate in having clients and partners who share that ethos.”
Seeking gender balance in financial services
Many of the Charter signatories are large firms in the financial services industry, such as Barclays Bank, PwC and Zurich Insurance, between them representing over half a million staff.
Developed as a result of the review by CEO of Virgin Money, Jayne-Anne Gadhia, into the representation of women in senior managerial positions in financial services published in March, the Charter aims to achieve a more gender balanced workforce in financial services. Jayne-Anne has just been appointed by the government to “drive further change as the official Women in Finance Champion”.
Jayne-Anne said, “I am delighted to be appointed the government’s Women in Finance Champion. We need to continue to manage the flow of female talent to leadership positions in financial services so that it properly reflects the diversity of our society.”
The Charter’s aims
The voluntary Charter outlines four main actions:
- Having one member of the senior executive team who is responsible and accountable for gender diversity and inclusion
- Setting internal targets for gender diversity in our senior management
- Publishing progress annually against these targets in reports on the signatory’s website and reporting those targets to HM Treasury
- Having an intention to ensure the pay of the senior executive team is linked to delivery against these internal targets on gender diversity.
The Charter is open to firms of all types and sizes and Sestini & Co has joined the second cohort of 22 signatories (PDF) announced today (8th November). Together the signatory firms employ over 550,000 people in the UK, with headquarters in the UK, USA, Europe and Asia.
As part of their commitment to the Charter, signatory firms are in the process of setting and reporting their gender diversity targets to HM Treasury. A link to each firm’s targets will be available in the Women in Finance Charter list of signatories document.
If you’d like to find out more, visit www.womeninfinance.org.uk.
Contact us
If you’d like to find out more about our commitment to the Women in Finance Charter or have any queries, call us on 01761 241 861 or email us today. We will be pleased to advise you.