Equality’s not just a pipe dream

Equality's not just a pipe dream

Male domination of the profession will one day be over

When I joined Pricewaterhouse-Coopers more than 30 years ago there were about
100 of us in that year’s graduate intake. Only two were women and I seem to
remember that both of them left less than six months later. Not surprisingly
there were no women partners at all. I’m fairly certain this was the situation
across the profession then.

So the accountancy profession has come a long way in a single generation. At
least 50% of new ACCA students each year are now female and as they qualify I’m
sure that their numbers in the Top 50 firms will rise from 37% to nearer 50%.
Similarly, I expect to see a rise in the number of female partners, but it may
take another generation before as many as half of all partners are women.

However, some argue that there is some sort of glass ceiling that will
prevent the numbers from climbing that high? I don’t think there is, although
there probably has been in the past. The raw Accountancy Age data is, I
think, a reflection of things as they were and not as they will be.

We all have to make choices in our careers. The profession is not right for
everyone – some of us want to run businesses rather than advise them – but I
don’t see why there should be a gender bias in this. There is a case, however,
for saying that the profession offers more flexibility (and therefore scope for
different forms of the so-called work/life balance) than a line management
corporate role. But I’m a bit sceptical about how real this difference is.

Having said that, I believe there is potentially more flexibility in some
aspects of professional practice. Tax work is one such area. Perhaps that is why
a recent search I did for someone to fill a senior personal tax advisory role in
a Top 10 accounting firm, identified more women than men. Perhaps such a role
can offer an attractive career for women who choose to have children.

Home working, flexible hours, a growing variety of ways of communicating and
message-taking mean that being tied to the office is, for many, a thing of the
past. And men can benefit from this sort of flexibility just as much as women
can.

Of one thing I can be certain: I will not be around in 2100. So I will never
know what happens, but my prediction is that if professional firms still exist
then and have partners then about 50% will be women and 50% will be men. It’s
just that it’s taking a bit of time to get there.

John Collier is director of Clive & Stokes International (Executive
Search)

Share

Subscribe to get your daily business insights

Resources & Whitepapers

Why Professional Services Firms Should Ditch Folders and Embrace Metadata
Professional Services

Why Professional Services Firms Should Ditch Folders and Embrace Metadata

3y

Why Professional Services Firms Should Ditch Folde...

In the past decade, the professional services industry has transformed significantly. Digital disruptions, increased competition, and changing market ...

View resource
2 Vital keys to Remaining Competitive for Professional Services Firms

2 Vital keys to Remaining Competitive for Professional Services Firms

3y

2 Vital keys to Remaining Competitive for Professi...

In recent months, professional services firms are facing more pressure than ever to deliver value to clients. Often, clients look at the firms own inf...

View resource
Turn Accounts Payable into a value-engine
Accounting Firms

Turn Accounts Payable into a value-engine

3y

Turn Accounts Payable into a value-engine

In a world of instant results and automated workloads, the potential for AP to drive insights and transform results is enormous. But, if you’re still ...

View resource
Digital Links: A guide to MTD in 2021
Making Tax Digital

Digital Links: A guide to MTD in 2021

3y

Digital Links: A guide to MTD in 2021

The first phase of Making Tax Digital (MTD) saw the requirement for the digital submission of the VAT Return using compliant software. That’s now behi...

View resource