Accounting Firms Named to List of Top 50 Companies for Executive Women

Several national accounting firms have been included on the list of the 2015 “NAFE Top Companies for Executive Women” by the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE), which honors American corporations that identify and promote successful women. Three of the Big 4 firms made the list (EY, PwC and KPMG), as well as Grant Thornton, one of the largest firms not in the Big 4.

“We’re honored to be recognized again this year as one of the top 50 employers for executive women by the National Association for Female Executives,” said Erica O’Malley, Grant Thornton’s national managing partner of Diversity & Inclusion. “This recognition reflects Grant Thornton’s continued commitment to enhancing the recruitment, retention and advancement of women into leadership positions.”

“We’re counting the numbers of women in senior management at America’s top companies and are happy to find that companies are responding to the competition,” says Dr. Betty Spence, NAFE president. “The 2015 NAFE Top Companies demonstrate their understanding that having women in top executive posts increases the bottom line.”

Compared with last year’s list, findings for the 2015 NAFE Top 50 Companies reveal that:

The percentage of women who hold board seats at the 2015 NAFE Top Companies grew to 29 percent from 27 percent last year;
Forty percent of top earners at the 2015 NAFE Top 50 are women, up from 35 percent last year;
Half of the winning companies now have four or more women board directors; at the NAFE Top 50, 29 percent of board members are women, compared with just 19 percent at the S&P 500;
Fifty-eight percent of the 2015 NAFE Top Companies now offer sponsorship programs, compared with 42 percent in 2013; 98 percent offer job rotations, up from 80 percent two years ago; and
Female representation at the CEO level held steady at 10 percent over the last four years at NAFE Top Companies — that’s twice the percentage at the Fortune 500.

Subha Barry, vice president and general manager, Working Mother Media, says, “This year’s winners work hard to nurture corporate cultures that advance and promote women. Top companies continue to support advancement programs; the percentage of companies that offer job rotation, succession planning and career counseling increased from 2014.”

The full list of this year’s winners is posted on workingmother.com and nafe.com.