‘Big Four’ accounting firm under fire over sexual harassment

Sunday, 31 March 2024

• Details of complaints of serious sexual harassment at accounting firm EY have emerged.

• Former staff accuse the company of failing to properly deal with the issue, in spite of a widespread review of workplace culture.

• EY’s New Zealand boss has reiterated the company is addressing all the recommendations of the review, and encouraged anyone with concerns to come forward so “appropriate action can be taken”.

A senior employee at EY was promoted despite a complaint of sexual harassment against him, and after a review of workplace culture had been carried out.

It’s one of several concerns raised with Stuff over practices at EY, one of the “big four” accounting firms, in the wake of the departure of the NZ chair over an “historical behavioural matter”.

Braden Dickson, who was also an EY Oceania partner and business development leader, left the company in February, after an investigation prompted by concerns raised in December 2023.

Stuff’s revelations of Dickson’s departure led to accounts from former staff over “horrific conduct” at the multinational professional services company.

At the time, EY managing partner Simon O’Connor said the company had already conducted “the most comprehensive review of workplace culture ever undertaken in the New Zealand professional services industry”.

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The review, released in July 2023, was undertaken shortly after the sudden death of a staff member at the company’s Sydney office. It showed almost one in five women aged between 18 and 35 had reported at least one instance of sexual harassment in the past five years.

“We’re confident that recommendations of the review, which have all been accepted by EY, will make meaningful improvements to our culture,” O’Connor said.

He said important progress had been made on creating an environment where “people feel safe to raise a concern … and have confidence in the complaints handling process, something that has been evident in the increase in the number of matters being raised with us, including recent events,” thought to be a reference to the investigation into Dickson and his subsequent departure.

But current and former EY employees spoken to by Stuff are sceptical about how much of a difference the review has actually made, when other senior staff who have been accused of serious misconduct remain part of the management team.

Stuff is aware of a complaint of serious sexual harassment against a senior employee who was promoted in spite of the complaint, and after the review was undertaken.

Another senior executive who was the subject of at least two separate complaints also continued to be employed, while the women who made the complaints left the firm.

“It sends a pretty clear message that revenue is more important to the partner group than the safety of women,” said one, “and given how recent these examples are, the sincerity of EY’s intention to meaningfully implement the recommendations included in [the review] seems questionable.

“I think the men who behave like this know that they would be more likely to be managed out for not meeting their revenue targets than for sexually harassing a junior employee.”

Another former employee echoed that concern. “In order to preserve their own incomes the partners will overlook even the most serious of indiscretions committed by their peers, provided said peers are still bringing significant revenues to the firm.”

They described a partner who was “a widely known predator but nevertheless a protected species”.

“He is well known to push heavy nights on the drinks and then grope, kiss and make sexual advances and even lick the junior colleagues in his teams — all in front of stunned onlookers who are powerless to intervene and scared into silence.

“Ultimately, all the partners care about is the revenue he brings.”

A third former employee in the Auckland office who had laid a complaint which was “at the lower end of the spectrum” said she spoke up because she was concerned other women were being subjected to worse and she wanted to call attention to the behaviour of the senior executive.

“No matter how big or small these acts of inappropriate behaviour on behalf of senior leadership may be, they can have a serious effect on the wellbeing of an individual,” she said.

“In my case it affected my mental health and in the case of others it can seriously affect their career path in a way that is both unfair and personally damaging. Leadership should know that they are not just a manager but a custodian for those working for them.”

She said her desire to be anonymous showed “there is a fear of it coming back to negatively affect me because the perpetrators continue to get away with their actions and continue to be in a position of power that reaches across the industry”.

A fourth former employee said the process of making a complaint was “scary”, partly because she was made to “sign a piece of paper saying I couldn’t talk about it”. Others also spoke of being required to be silent.

“The process is slanted in favour of the perpetrator. They make you feel like a piece of s…, like you’re doing something to that person that might ruin their career. But there was no consequence for him. The women go through this horrible process and get nothing at the end. Not [in terms of] money, which I couldn’t care less about. Justice, or a sense of relief, or anything.”

One of the other complainants said there was a serious and ongoing impact for those subjected to the behaviour, and that the workplace culture review, while “appalling reading”, did not capture the extent of what was happening at EY, nor the consequences.

She described how the stress resulting from the company’s failure to properly respond to her concerns led to her being hospitalised, having accidentally taken an excessive amount of medication. “It wasn’t self-harm. I was so stressed that I was just shovelling handfuls of pills in my mouth and I ended up vomiting blood and blacking out.”

After she left EY she moved overseas and tried to continue her career but was unable to because “I couldn’t concentrate, I couldn’t do basic tasks”.

“Everything that I had worked for professionally — my confidence, professional relationships and opportunities — just evaporated because of this man’s behaviour and the partners who enabled him.”

In response to the latest accusations, O’Connor reiterated his previous statement that EY was addressing all the recommendations of the workplace culture review, including redesigning the complaints handling process and policies focused on transparency and accountability, and caring for the welfare of the complainant.

“We’d strongly encourage anyone to come forward and report their concerns so appropriate action can be taken.”