Top firm remuneration: big 4 not far ahead of mid-tiers

According to the latest gender pay gap results for 2024–25 released by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) on Tuesday (3 March), the top six mid-tier firms (BDO, Grant Thornton, Findex, Pitcher Partners, William Buck) and the big four all had a gender participation parity skewed towards women, with BDO and Deloitte having the lowest rate of women participation (51 per cent) and William Buck Queensland with the highest at 65 per cent.

Highest average remuneration

The data revealed that PwC led both the big four and the top mid-tier firms in average total remuneration for its total workforce at $140,000, followed by KPMG ($136,000), EY ($134,000), and BDO ($134,000).

Regarding average total remuneration for the upper quartile, Findex and BDO topped the mid-tiers and inched out the big four at $250,000, with PwC leading the big four at $241,000, closely followed by William Buck at $236,000.

At the lowest pay scale, despite impressive remuneration at the executive level, William Buck Queensland reported paying its staff an average total remuneration for the lower quartile of $58,000, with KPMG being the most generous for early career employees, offering an average minimum of $74,000, followed closely by PwC and Deloitte ($73,000).

Upper-quartile earners

Among the big four, Deloitte had the lowest proportion of its women in the upper quartile of earnings (40 per cent), while PwC led, with 47 per cent of its women employees earning in the upper quartile.

Poorer performance was found across several mid-sized firms, with BDO having 38 per cent of women in the upper quartile of earnings, Findex 39 per cent, Pitcher Partners 36 per cent, and William Buck NSW 32 per cent.

Notably, Grant Thornton stood out, with 61 per cent of upper-quartile earners being women.

Lower-quartile earners

For lower-quartile earners, women comprised the majority in all firms except BDO, with the lowest quartile of earners made up of 49 per cent women, followed by Deloitte, PwC, and KPMG at 51 per cent, with Pitcher Partners and Findex leading at 68 per cent and 70 per cent, respectively.

“Women and men want a fair and equal opportunity to use their full range of skills and capabilities, hold the most senior and highest paying roles, feel safe at work, and have some flexibility to manage other responsibilities, such as caring, outside of work,” said Mary Wooldridge (pictured), chief executive of the WGEA.

As reported by HR Leader, under the Workplace Gender Equality Amendment (Setting Gender Equality Targets) Bill 2025, which passed parliament in March 2025, private sector employers will need to select their first targets for reporting between 1 April and 31 May 2026, while Commonwealth public sector employers have theirs due from 1 September to 31 October 2026.