Fiona Drummond

EY has named Fiona Drummond as its next managing partner in Western Australia, making it the second of the big four accounting firms to have a female heading its Perth office, and only the sixth out of 86 accounting firms listed on the BNiQ Search Engine.

SPECIAL REPORT: Gender equity is a key goal for major accounting firms but their track record is varied, especially in WA.

EY has named Nick Tana as its Champion of Entrepreneurship at the 2019 Entrepreneur of the Year Western Region awards, while Jim Fitzgerald, Iris Smit and Daniel Morrison were among the seven other winners in Western Australia.

When their first sponsorship arrangement was introduced 25 years ago, EY was an accounting, tax and corporate finance business and WASO was part of the ABC.

In our latest video interview, Fiona Drummond explains how EY is managing COVID-19 and talks about the long-term impact of the virus on workplaces.

Staff numbers at WA’s accounting firms have experienced their largest fall in more than 20 years, though the change was highly variable.

Perth’s major accounting firms have about 70 per cent of their staff back in the office after COVID, but lots of variation sits behind that number.

KPMG has selected its global head of mining Trevor Hart to chair its WA practice, with Matthew Woods stepping down from the role after just over two years.

Leaders from some of Perth’s major professional services firms have seen big changes in their working lives over three decades.

WA generally outperformed national office numbers for the big four accounting firms, while mid-tier players bolstered their presence in the state.