By Misean Reed
Manager, Diversity, Work/Life & Women’s Intiatives
AICPA Academic & Career Development Team

Newsflash: The target audience for the profession’s women’s initiatives is no longer just women – if, in fact, it ever was. The key players here are firm or organizational leaders. We don’t need to spend a lot of energy convincing women that they have different priorities or different needs – they’re the ones telling us, loud and clear. What we do need to focus on is educating decision-makers on why it’s important to understand how the needs of women differ from the needs of men, and why it’s crucial to adopt policies flexible enough to accommodate them. This is not about giving special treatment to women because they’re women. It’s about giving women different consideration, because if you don’t make an effort to meet their needs, you won’t have anyone left to do the work.

It’s expensive to hire people. It’s expensive to train people. It’s expensive to lose people. And if and when an owner wants to sell his or her firm, they want a healthy pool of talented professionals who are eager to buy. And this doesn’t even speak to the more intangible issues, like workload and morale.

The unfortunate thing about dealing with women’s initiatives is semantics. When you discuss “women’s” issues, too often, men stop listening, believing the subsequent information doesn’t apply to them. However, say something like, “succession planning” or “staff retention” and they’re all ears.

Off-Ramps and On-Ramps
Over the past few years, it has become clear that organizations in the financial services, accounting, and consulting industries need to address the issue of women leaving the workforce early – or off-ramping.

Over the course of their careers, 37 percent of professional women will voluntarily leave their jobs, both temporarily and permanently. Forty-five percent of these women leave to care for small children, and 24 percent leave for elder care. On average, these women are out of the workforce just 2.2 years. After this brief break, 93 percent will try to re-enter the workforce.

There are low-cost, practical ways for firms to keep these women connected to the organization while they’re away, therefore significantly increasing the likelihood of them returning to the firm.

1. Supply technology.
2. Offer training.
3. Communicate through different channels.
4. Provide networking opportunities.
5. Provide support systems with other parents and people who have chosen to off-ramp.
6. Facilitate the on-ramping process when people choose to return to work.

By simply discussing career options with off-ramping individuals before they leave, firms can greatly increase their retention rate for talented, trained employees – especially women.

Barriers to Advancement
The statistics show that over 50 percent of the college graduates in accounting and new employees in CPA positions are female, yet, only 11 to 19 percent of public accounting partners and senior executive accounting positions are held by females.

The AICPA Work Life and Women’s Initiative Executive Committee (WLWIEC) conducted six focus groups in the fall of 2005 to better understand issues related to women’s career advancement in the profession. The issues fell into four areas: the organization, the profession, client expectations, and the individual. The most prevalent theme throughout all of these areas was that if flexibility was required, barriers continue to exist.

The Organization
In many organizations, senior leaders fail to recognize the issue of women’s retention and advancement, and this mindset becomes prevalent in the culture of the organization. There is an unspoken political game that men understand and from which women are often excluded. Despite appropriate verbal support, too often actions do not support the words.

Research shows women opt for flexible work arrangements or extended time off at a much higher rate than men. Not only do these off-ramps often occur at a time when women would otherwise be climbing the corporate ladder, but an employee requesting flexibility is often seen as less committed to the organization.

Even more worrisome than organizational barriers are those women sometimes place on themselves. Many times women will opt for a non-partner track because partnership or senior leadership does not appear to be an attractive position. Workload requirement, risk, and additional leadership responsibilities can be seen as barriers to flexibility, which may discourage women or younger workers who place a lot of emphasis on work/life balance.

The Profession
The workload is growing, while the workforce is shrinking. Sarbanes-Oxley has significantly increased the number of hours for the profession, creating additional stress as the demands for travel, documentation, and billable hours increase. Companies and firms report having to either drop certain clients and services, or hire additional people to keep up with the increase in SOX-related activity.

Consider the following statistics:

• From 1946 to 1963 (a 17-year time span), 79 million Baby Boomers were born in the US. The following two decades resulted in the birth of just 43 million people.
• By 2008, women will make up 48 percent of the U.S. workforce.
• Over their careers, 37 percent of professional women will voluntarily leave their jobs early – or “off-ramp” – and 30 percent will opt to take a flexible work arrangement, leaving fewer people to do more work.

This is alarming news for today’s business organizations, including CPA firms where staff retention consistently ranks among top concerns. Adopting innovative policies flexible enough to accommodate the needs of its employees becomes essential to a firm’s survival, let alone success.

Women and professionals with young families are reprioritizing their values to put quality of life and family at the top of the list. As these priorities change, the profession finds itself trying to adjust using an old business model that does not support these changing needs.

Risk issues and PCAOB regulations have also been identified as professional barriers that make people reluctant to invest in a firm. Overall, research suggests this affects women more than men because women tend to be less willing to risk family security than their male counterparts.

There is high demand for talented employees not just in accounting, but in all business areas. This competition presents opportunities for CPAs to pursue less stressful, more flexible work away from the accounting profession. And as baby boomers retire, there will be a huge gap in senior leadership in the profession, increasing the need to retain and develop younger employees.

Client Expectations
In a climate ever-increasing competition and high client expectations, the need to plan for who will respond to a client if the primary contact is in a flexible work arrangement is a concern. The current model of a primary contact may need to shift to a team model that facilitates both the needs of the client and the employees. In many cases, clients are also struggling with work/life integration, creating a perfect opportunity to educate clients and set new expectations.

The Individual
Regardless of external factors, it stands to reason that in order for women to succeed, several individual, gender-specific factors need to be addressed and overcome. The list includes:

• Confidence: Women need to recognize their unique talents and the value they bring to their organization. This often includes being a team player and the ability to multi-task, among others.
• Guilt: Making choices between family and work often causes women to doubt their abilities and priorities.
• Assertiveness: Women tend to be more collaborative, putting their individual needs aside for the good of the team. Being able to ask for and get what you need is an important step in achieving goals.
• Language: Understanding the “language” of men can be challenging when trying to use the information to create relationships.
• Role models: Finding trusted advisors both in and out of the profession can go a long way in professional and personal growth. Unfortunately, there is a shortage of women leaders from which to learn.

In general, the issue of women’s retention and advancement is no longer a women’s issue – it is directly related to the overall profession’s looming staff retention and succession planning crises. Organizations that begin to plan and implement innovative strategies today will have a much greater chance of future success than those who continue to ignore the problem.

For more information or guidance on how your firm or organization can improve its focus on women’s issues, including a Guide to Building a Successful Off-Ramping Program, contact the AICPA’s Academic and Career Development team at womensinitiatives@aicpa.org.

Misean Reed is manager of Diversity, Work/Life and Women’s Initiatives for the AICPA’s Academic & Career Development Team.