KPMG Australia CEO Gary Wingrove (R) and new partner Courtney West (L), who is going on maternity leave next month.

KPMG Australia on Monday named a firm-record 51 new partners for 2015. Thirty-seven per cent of those appointments went to women, a record number of whom will either be on maternity leave or working part-time. Improving gender diversity and flexible work practices is a priority across the big four accounting firms as they compete for talent.

It is an exciting month ahead for Courtney West, a thirty-five year old private enterprise practitioner from KPMG’s Wollongong office, who will commence as partner on July 1 and is due to give birth to her first baby at the end of the month.

Ms West said she was never concerned that having a baby would interfere with her ambitions to make partner at the firm.

“Having a baby and becoming a KPMG partner were both things I wanted for my life and I always felt supported to do both,” she said.

She plans to return to work full-time after six months maternity leave but is glad to have access to flexible return-to-work arrangements if needed.

Of the 51 people to make partner at KPMG this year 37 per cent, were women, up from 24 per cent last year. A record 56 per cent of internal promotions to partner were women.

By comparison 31 per cent of 58 new partners appointed by Deloitte in early June were women, and 30 per cent of 33 new EY Australia partners announced last week were women. PwC Australia will make its 2015 new partner announcement next week.

KPMG Australia chief executive Gary Wingrove said a willingnesss to appoint women on maternity leave or flexible working arrangements was important to the firm’s culture and success.

Five of the 19 new female partners for 2015 are working three or four days a week, and in addition to Ms West another is currently on maternity leave.

“This is a market-leading outcome and the direct result of the concerted and disciplined efforts we are taking to create a level playing field for the career success of women in our firm,” Mr Wingrove said.

Mr Wingrove is a member of the Male Champions of Change – an initiative of the Australian Human Rights Commission’s sex discrimination commissioner Elizabeth Broderick launched in 2010 to elevate the issue of increasing the representation of women in leadership on the national business agenda.

National managing partner people performance and culture Susan Ferrier said KPMG’s advancement in promoting women is proof its five year strategy to improve diversity and inclusion is working.

In August 2013, the firm announced gender targets aiming to lift the proportion of female partners to 25 per cent and the number the of women across all senior leadership positions to 40 per cent by 1 July 2016.

Following Monday’s announcement 20 per cent of all partners at KPMG Australia are women, up from 16 per cent three years ago.

Ms Ferrier said enhanced agile working opportunities and improved parental leave support and policies have helped the firm achieve a return to work rate of 96 per cent among partners that take maternity leave. None of the 32 men promoted to partner at KPMG this year are on paternity leave or on a flexible contract. However more senior men are expected to take up these options in the years ahead, she said.

There has been a noticeable increase in the number of women being promoted to partner at the big four accounting firms, including while on maternity leave or working part-time, in the past few years. It is a trend that has been slowly gathering momentum for the past 20 years.

Deloitte Australia chief executive Cindy Hook was on maternity leave, having given birth to her first son two days earlier, when she made partner in 1998.

This article was originally published on Australian Financial Review 23rd June. Read the original article here.