Women are Advancing in Leadership
Position (and other trends)

The AICPA study “A Decade of Changes in the Accounting Profession: Workforce Trends and Human Capital Practices” shows women now make up 19 percent of all firm partners, compared to 12 percent 10 years ago.

Many more women and men are taking advantage of alternative career paths being offered by firms. Instead of the typical up or out policy, many are opting to be permanent senior manager, or to work in less client-service-oriented areas such as recruiting. However, only 38 percent of firms in the survey offered these alternatives.

The report recommends that:

• More mentoring is needed.
• Women should be more aggressive in seeking career objectives.
• Work/life balance should be a business strategy.

Other findings:

• Ninety percent of women return from maternity leave either full- or part-time.
• Women are showing a preference for smaller firms.
• Men are far more interested in partnership than women
• Women are not as aware as men of networking opportunities, and of training programs available in leadership and sales.
• Firms that care about the personal needs of staff are experiencing gains in productivity.

The full report is available at: http://www.aicpa.org/download/career/wofi/ResearchPaper_v5.pdf. 

From Public Accounting Report, Volume XXX No. 4, February 28, 2006. CCH, p. 1. Tax and Accounting, 800-449-8114; and AICPA, http://www.aicpa.org/download/news/2006/ AICPA_Survey_Women_Making_Strides_02_21.pdf.