Dame Elizabeth Mary Keegan, DBE (born 1953) is a retired accountant and civil servant. Born in 1953, she attended Brentwood County High School and

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, Ir ...

, before working at

Price Waterhouse PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...

from 1977;"Dame Mary Keegan"
''

''. Retrieved 10 February 2022. she was appointed their first female audit

partner Partner, Partners, The Partner, or, The Partners may refer to: Books * ''The Partner'' (Grisham novel), by John Grisham, 1997 * ''The Partner'' (Jenaro Prieto novel), 1928 * ''The Partners'' (book), a 1983 book by James B. Stewart * ''Partner'' (m ...

in 1985 and in 1994 became the firm's director of professional standards for Europe. In 2001, she left to chair the

Accounting Standards Board The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is an independent regulator in the United Kingdom, UK and Republic of Ireland, Ireland based in London Wall#modern, London Wall in the City of London, responsible for regulating auditors, accountants and a ...

, serving until 2004. That year, she was appointed Head of the Government Finance Profession.

Honours/Awards

She was appointed a Dame Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(DBE) in the

2007 Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours 2007 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 17 June 2007, to celebrate the Queen's Birthday of 2007.Antigua & Barbuda list: The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before their new honour, and a ...

and stepped down in 2008."Keegan, Dame (Elizabeth) Mary"
''

Who Was Who ''Who's Who'' is a reference work. It is a book, and also a CD-ROM and a website, giving information on influential people from around the world. Published annually as a book since 1849, it lists people who influence British life, according to i ...

'' (online ed.,

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2021). Retrieved 10 February 2022.''The London Gazette''
16 June 2007 (supplement, issue 58358), p. 7. She was awarded the Institute of Chartered Accountants' Award for Outstanding Achievement in 2014, and is an

honorary fellow Honorary titles (professor, reader, lecturer) in academia may be conferred on persons in recognition of contributions by a non-employee or by an employee beyond regular duties. This practice primarily exists in the UK and Germany, as well as in m ...

of Somerville College, Oxford.

References

Living people 1953 births British accountants British women accountants British civil servants British women civil servants Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford Fellows of Somerville College, Oxford Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire {{UK-gov-bio-stub