Evolving Accountant | Spring 2023
Accounting’s Strength in Numbers
By harnessing the power of community, the accounting profession can create a pathway to gender parity.
Andrea Wright, CPA
Partner, Johnson Lambert LLP
Trends in Accounting, Auditing, and Consulting
March was Women’s History Month—a time when we celebrate, commemorate, and observe the contributions that women have made to American history. Within our profession, this is often a time we see firms showcase on social media the women that serve in their leadership roles. And while this annual occasion rightfully deserves recognition and celebration, it’s also an important reminder to reflect on where women in accounting stand and how much further we have to go.
While women have begun to crack the glass ceiling of public accounting leadership, they sadly still make up only 23% of partners in U.S. CPA firms, despite being 50% of new hires, according to a report from the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) and the California Society of CPAs (CALCPA). The AICPA’s “2021 Trends” report, released in spring 2022, pegs the number of women partners in U.S. CPA firms at a higher 39%, but even that begs for a stronger push toward parity. More recently, and closer to home, the Illinois CPA Society’s (ICPAS’) 2022 Firm Staffing and Benefits Survey found that women make up just 27% of partners in Illinois CPA firms. The obvious question is why?
What the IMA/CALCPA report found is that 73% of the women surveyed reported that biases toward them negatively affected their ability to enter the profession’s leadership ranks.
In the accounting profession, there’s at least recognition that the lack of women representation is an issue, and various programs have been instituted to combat this problem by state and national bodies. For instance, the AICPA adopted the Women’s Initiative Executive Committee (WIEC), with the goal of promoting a work environment that provides opportunities for women to advance to leadership positions. WEIC’s primary contribution in this area has been through the development of educational programs and resources. While this and other programs, like ICPAS’ Women’s Committee and Women’s Mentoring Circles, have had some successes, the statistics of women in leadership in the profession demonstrate that progress has been slow. As we see another Women’s History Month come and go, now is the perfect time for women to assess our state in our profession and consider how we might use the framework of community to chart our own path forward.
The concept of community has always been the glue that binds individuals together, and professional community is no different. As individuals, we flourish when we’re connected to community. We become our best selves and have the greatest impact when we act together.
The annals of history prove true that communities acting together have the power to effect change. A recent example of this is the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team (USWNT). In 2022, dozens of current and former team members became the public symbol of gender parity with the successful settlement of their equal pay lawsuit against U.S. Soccer, the sport’s national governing body and employer of the players. Megan Rapinoe’s iconic, open-armed, post-goal pose during the 2019 Women’s World Cup quarterfinal versus France is forever etched in my memory. Not solely as a symbol of victory, but as an invitation to community and the power that community can harness.
As such, I believe there are three lessons that women in accounting can learn from the USWNT’s fight for pay equity.
1. COLLECTIVE ADVOCACY
The idiom “there’s strength in numbers” seems obvious but worth reiterating. Six years before the USWNT players won their court victory, five players unsuccessfully filed a similar pay equity complaint. It wasn’t until all 28 team members of the current team decided to join and stick together that they were successful in their efforts.
A critical aspect of collective advocacy is the focus on the community’s common goals while acknowledging the nuances that exist within it. Collective advocacy drives movement for the benefit of the community, not solely for the individual.
2. SHARED EXPERIENCES
A benefit of community is knowing that you’re not alone. Shared experiences have the benefit of producing visible role models. Sometimes it takes just one other person who’s willing to start the conversation for others to recognize that they’re not alone in their experience. The more vocal the USWNT players became about their experiences, the more other women in sports, business, academia, and politics joined the conversation. In fact, not long after the USWNT players gained national attention for their pay equity struggle, players of the Women’s National Basketball Association launched their own gender equity movement.
Realizing that women thrive in environments where there are viable role models, many organizations created spaces for employees to gather and share their experiences. My firm has created similar initiatives—but I’ve found that they’re not well attended by women in firm leadership. These groups are a good first step, but for them to really make an impact, women must take the reins and make the groups work for them.
For the benefit of the community, women in leadership must be willing to share their experiences in more open, public forums. Some of us can tell stories of long careers with promotions within a firm or company where we’ve made a difference. Others can share how they moved around but have had doors open because of the CPA credential or accounting and financial acumen. Being vocal about our experiences ignites not only enthusiasm but can also create a movement.
3. WELCOME OTHERS
For me, one of the highlights of following the USWNT’s journey was seeing how welcoming the team was to others. A community may begin with a group of individuals who share unique or specific characteristics; however, it doesn’t have to remain defined as such. For example, not long after the USWNT players began their public campaign, the men’s soccer team pledged its support to them.
A community is made stronger, in part, by the effective partnerships and coalitions it’s able to develop. Which brings us full circle to the first point made in this article—there’s strength in numbers.
Women have contributed a great deal to the accounting profession over its history and we have much more to contribute. As one writer put it, “as the advancement of women goes, so goes the firm of the future.” If we learn to harness the power of community, I have no doubt that the future will be bright.
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