Accountancy Age Debate: Mandatory targets are essential to place more women into senior roles

Accountancy Age and Financial Director are delighted to launch our next online Debate, which proposes that ‘mandatory targets are essential to place more women into senior roles’.

Accountancy Age Debates are an interactive forum where the audience can discuss important topical issues, using an ‘Oxford-style debate’. This style of debate uses experts to discuss differing views of a chosen topic. Readers are then asked to take part in two ways:

• Join the debate at any stage by making comments on what you have read or simply voice your own opinion; and

• Vote upon which expert’s view you agree with. You can change your vote at any time during the debate.

Just 17% of the FTSE 100 board roles are held be females. Even the most progressive accounting firms have admitted that bringing through more female partners is still problematic.

With the EU looking push financial services firms towards setting female board representation targets, is quota-setting the best way to jump-start a recruitment revolution?

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady is making the proposal, ‘Mandatory targets are essential to place more women into senior roles’, in this Debate. O’Grady has been an active trade unionist and campaigner all her working life. She has been employed in a range of jobs from shop work to the voluntary sector.

Opposing O’Grady in this Debate is KPMG partner Melanie Richards. She is a partner in corporate finance, debt advisory services, and a UK board member and founder member of The 30% Club Steering Committee.

Our guest commentator is Reeves tax & business advisory partner Fiona Hotston Moore. Alongside her senior practice role, she is co-founder of Accelerated Board Attainment, a successful initiative arising out of the Davies Report that supports the development of aspiring board members.

The Debate, which starts on Monday 16 September, can be viewed here