Working all night is not 'a badge of pride'

Ina Kjaer and Maggie Brereton

After years of early starts and late nights, two of KPMG's former top bosses have shunned what they call a "culture of fear" at the "big four" accountancy firms to start a rival that prides itself on keeping more sociable hours.

Maggie Brereton and Ina Kjaer each spent more than 20 years on the team that advises businesses on deals at KPMG, where it was seen as a "badge of pride" to work all night, Ms Brereton told the BBC.

"There's a traditional macho culture that pervades," she says.

"I remember doing my first 'all-nighter'," she says. "I came back into the office the next day with a swagger."

'Crazy hours'

But now, she believes those long hours aren't necessary, saying people are pulling all nighters "almost for the sake of it".

And she thinks the prospect of working those anti-social hours puts off potential employees, especially women and those with caring duties or young children.

Instead, the new firm - Eos Deal Advisory - aims to bring together a diverse team that Ms Brereton says will be better equipped to "get to the heart" of what needs to be done to get a deal over the line.

And she says that appeals to clients: "They don't necessarily want to be doing these crazy hours either."

Ms Brereton also thinks there has been a breakdown in the relationship between employees at the big four and their bosses.

A friend of Ms Brereton, who also worked at one of the big four firms, had a death in the family but she says that management at the firm, which she did not name, "reacted really poorly" to the news and "showed absolutely no empathy".

"It showed that the humanity seemed to have gone out of that relationship," Ms Brereton says.

And she thinks that will help Eos attract people from the big four who are looking for a change.

"We are interviewing every day," she says, adding that they already had a list of potential clients who want to work with the new firm, which began trading this week.

But Tamzen Isacsson - the boss of the Management Consultancies Association, which counts the big four among its members - said advisory firms were already working to promote sociable hours and an inclusive culture.

"There isn't a need to create companies to deliver that - our companies are delivering that already."

Ms Isacsson says there is now a greater awareness of what is considered acceptable within companies, adding that "macho culture has been eradicated".

"What was acceptable 20 years ago is no longer acceptable and there are huge efforts - I cannot underline how heavily firms are working - to ensure that there is a much more inclusive culture where everybody can belong."

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Ms Brereton and Ms Kjaer resigned from KPMG in February over the firm's response to allegations of bullying.

In a statement, KPMG said: "KPMG has a strong, inclusive culture, evidenced by consistently high employee engagement scores, good retention rates and numerous awards for our role as a top employer.

"We are proud of the contribution our people make to the UK."