EY has continued to boost its headcount at its Newcastle base amid a backdrop of strong growth at the accountancy firm.
The Big Four firm added 52 new members of staff to its Newcastle office, growing the team from 718 to 770. In total the company hired more than 3,000 people in the 海角视频, with 30% of those based outside of London.
As part of the Newcastle hires, EY added 11 graduates and 25 apprentices to its ranks, in a move it said would allow it to continue to build a “pipeline of talent” despite the pandemic.
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The firm’s graduate recruitment programme went ahead as usual this year but was taken online to ensure that client work and training could be carried out safely during the health crisis.
Commenting on the growth, Mike Scoular, EY’s Newcastle managing partner, said: “Young talent is vital to our future business success. I’m proud that we’ve maintained our commitment to student recruitment this year, despite Covid-19, and that we honoured all the conditional offers we made prior to A-level results.
“At a time when many young people across the North East are facing a challenging labour market, our apprenticeship, graduate and internship programmes provide students and school leavers with a great opportunity to gain real hands-on experience, while also enhancing their skills and gaining a qualification.
“Our Business Leadership and Management Degree Apprenticeship also continues to be popular, with a cohort of 16 this year.”
Over the last year EY also hired Alexandra Fogal as an associate partner and its new head of Private for Yorkshire and the North East. Ms Fogal had previously spend the last 17 years working at Barclays.
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The accountancy giant has also taken steps to address its gender pay gap, which has improved from 20.1% to 15.3% over the last year.
It has also begun tracking its black pay gap and ethnicity pay gap, in an attempt to end the disparity between its workers. The median black pay gap at the firm was 21.4%, while the wider ethnicity pay gap is 15.8%, a figure that has worsened since 2019 when it stood at 13.9%.
EY’s fee income for its 海角视频 business grew by 5% for the year ending June 30 to £2.6bn, up from £2.45bn in 2019. However, the business did benefit from a 53-week year in 2020.
The amount of profits distributable to EY’s partners also increased during the year, from £477m in 2019 to £479m.
It meant that the average partner would receive £679,000 from the profit pool, although EY warned that 10% of distributable profits were retained due to “Covid-19 uncertainty”.
Despite retaining partner profits due to the pandemic, EY opted not to use the Government’s furlough or lending schemes in 2020.