How Women Can Exploit Opportunities for Advancement

Source: Insight, The Magazine of the Illinois CPA Society

Leslie Murphy, president of the AICPA and partner at Plante Moran, the 11th largest accounting firm, sees good opportunities for women who want to advance at their firms.

More than half of accountants surveyed by the AICPA are not interested in partnership. They believe the cost is too high—too much risk and not enough balance in their lives. This could mean partnership opportunities for women.

Opportunities for women are good if they are proactive:

• Good work can get you promoted in your early years, but promotion to higher levels requires more—communicating and creating the appropriate image.
• You don’t have to sacrifice your family life and other interests to move up the ladder.
• If you don’t let people know you are ambitious, they may presume you aren’t.

• Develop networks both inside and outside the firm.

Women’s compensation is generally comparable to men, but:

• When a woman decides to reduce her hours, compensation may change.
• It’s acceptable to ask where you rank (but not actual compensation amounts) in the compensation scheme. If your position on the compensation scale isn’t commensurate with your work and responsibility, find out why and take action to correct the inequity.

Mentoring can have a significant impact on your career—it can affect the assignments you get, the clients you work on, the development of networks, and more. If you don’t have a mentor, or a satisfactory mentoring relationship, find and nurture one.

Other suggestions:

• Develop special niche skills to create more demand for your services.
• Dress professionally. Glamour and work are incompatible.
• You can have friends at work, but your friends with whom you share intimate feelings should be outside of work.
• Take charge of your career path. Set goals and write a plan to achieve them.

• Women may be uncomfortable in networking situations, but networking is critical. If you don’t have networking skills, your firm should help you develop them. If not, find a firm that will. You probably won’t become a partner without networking both inside and outside the firm.

From Insight, The Magazine of the Illinois CPA Society, January/February 2007. For the complete article, click on the following link: www.insight-mag.com/insight/index.htm, select January/February 2007 issue, click on “Features,” then select the article: All’s Fair for the Fairer Sex.