Many strides have been made, but there’s still a long road ahead.
On January 1 of this year, Nancy Ekrem, CPA, became the sole shareholder at Dewar Meeks + Ekrem PC, a small public accounting firm in Edmonds, WA. A principal since 1991, she took on this solo position after her fellow shareholders, Douglas Dewar, CPA (inactive), and Michael Meeks, CPA, stepped down from their previous roles. In addition, five — more than 71% — of the firm’s seven CPAs are women. “We have a really special team of people,” Ekrem said. “And we have several things that women like, such as flexible schedules and remote access. We give back to the community and volunteer as a team.”
Ekrem’s firm is a bit of an anomaly, however. Women represent only 22% of partners in public accounting firms nationwide and fall short of men in obtaining equity ownership, according to the 2017 CPA Firm Gender Survey, a national study conducted by the Women’s Initiatives Executive Committee of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (AICPA). Public accounting firms in Washington State mirror the national average, give or take a few percentage points, though many are making conscientious efforts to close the gender leadership gap to stay competitive. The numbers haven’t shifted much in recent years.
“Almost every firm loses half of its women in the leadership pipelines between the senior management level and partnership level,” noted Joanne Cleaver, president of content consulting firm Wilson-Taylor Associates Inc., in Manistee, MI., and creator of the MOVE Project, an annual survey sponsored in part by the Accounting & Financial Women’s Alliance in Lexington, KY. Every year, the project lists the best accounting firms for women based on various criteria. In 2017, two Washington public accounting firms, Clark Nuber PS of Bellevue and Moss Adams LLP in Seattle, made the top 12 list for women in the profession due to their work in promoting women into top leadership positions.
Then and Now
While the statistics seem grim, the gender leadership disparity at public accounting firms has actually been a factor for decades. Women often chose to depart on their own and firms often didn’t do enough to retain them. Mid-career, women frequently left to have children (and still do), unable to balance both the rigors of public accounting with family life. Some women left to pursue other opportunities. Many women CPAs on the partner track also faced burnout and stress when they were thrust into business development requirements, with too little training on how to woo new clients to their respective firms. “The stage before partner is senior manager and that stage is in many respects the hardest of your career,” said Dan Cheyney, CPA, national practice leader for Moss Adams in Everett.
Women CPAs also endured gender bias for years, sometimes from clients. Both Ekrem and Mary Marino, CPA, tax principal at CliftonLarsonAllen LLP in Bellevue, recall long-ago clients who preferred speaking to one of their male CPA colleagues. “There were numerous instances where I felt just gaining credibility was a challenge,” Marino said.
Those days seem long gone though, especially as 48% of college accounting graduates are now women, according to the AICPA report, 2017 Trends in the supply of accounting graduates and the demand for public accounting recruits. With almost half of the accounting employee pipeline being female, firms are naturally making strides in hiring, retaining, and promoting women. They are doing this largely out of necessity since this employee pool—particularly in the Greater Seattle area—is highly coveted not only by public accounting firms but by cutting-edge and cool corporations such as Microsoft Corp., Amazon.com, Inc., and Starbucks Corp.
“We’re facing a huge hiring crisis in our industry,” Ekrem admitted. Simply put, firms need to focus on this issue in order to stay enticing, as college accounting students have an overabundance of options once they graduate. Female accounting graduates will want to work for organizations that value their abilities and drive, and offer them opportunities for advancement.
In addition, many partners who are baby boomers are close to retirement, meaning there will soon be more shoes to fill by both male and female CPAs. “We’re going to specifically have a lot of change when it comes to whom is sitting at the table in the next five or so years,” said Miriam Krisher, CPA, audit principal at Peterson Sullivan LLP in Seattle. Currently, only four of her firm’s partners are women (out of 21 total partners), though at the principal and senior manager levels women outnumber men in both cases, based on the company’s website. Several female CPAs, including Krisher, are on the partner track at her firm, she added.
Making Strides
Clark Nuber has bucked the national statistics by getting a jump on the gender problem early. Roughly 40% of the firm’s shareholders are women, 48% of its senior leaders are women, and 65% of its workforce is female, said President and CEO Robert Wheeler, CPA. The firm is also highly team-focused and offers both mentoring and coaching programs, and has a succession-planning process to help ensure it is developing future leaders, both men and women. Clark Nuber began offering part-time schedules and remote work more than a decade ago, and invested in technology to make this possible. It’s especially important to give young CPAs “the tools they need to balance work and family,” he noted. “We’ve embraced the fact that we need to be flexible.”
Moss Adams is also ahead of the curve. At the firm’s Everett location, 32% of the partners are female (including the consulting practice), and roughly 50% of the CPAs are women, Cheyney noted. About 10 years ago the national firm launched its Forum W initiative, a program aimed to help attract, develop, retain, and promote women within its ranks. “The firm recognized that we had a business need and, as a growing firm, we need more leadership candidates and more diversity in our leadership,” he said. “If everyone looks alike and thinks alike, you miss out on an opportunity.” Forum W “isn’t designed to artificially get people into leadership roles because of gender,” he added. “It is designed to make sure the candidates have diverse attributes and we are getting a broader perspective.”
Nationally, Moss Adams has a goal to have women comprise 30% of its partners and principals by 2022, according to the 2017 Accounting MOVE Project Report, which the firm helped to sponsor. Currently, 26% of the national firm’s top leaders are women. Moss Adams offers employees flexibility and necessary resources, and its program, Growth Series, helps its high-performing women gain necessary leadership skills. “If they want to have a career, what we want to do is make sure there are no barriers to doing that,” Cheyney said. Moss Adams is also focused on sponsorship and mentoring, and utilizes a leadership opportunity matrix so that the best people are considered for advancement based on various headship attributes.
Other firms are making strides, too. Nationally, KPMG LLP is trying to elevate more women into leadership roles, since only 19% of the organization’s partners are women, the firm reported. In 2003 the company founded the KPMG Network of Women (KNOW), which focuses on networking, mentoring, leadership opportunities, and business development skills. It also formed its Women’s Advisory Board, a group that develops programs beneficial to its female accountants. “This is a great firm for women,” said Karissa Marker, CPA, partner in the Greater Seattle area. “I’ve been rewarded for my strong efforts and dedication and commitment to what we are doing.” The firm offers flexible schedules for its CPAs and has an official mentoring program, she added.
With up-and-coming Millennials on the payroll, most Washington and national firms have realized that modified work arrangements are a must for retaining young talent, particularly women. These options include flex time, telecommuting, and reduced work hours if necessary. Such arrangements “are crucial, and we’ve got them all,” noted Krisher. “The firm leaves it up to me as to where I want to work.”
Similarly, CliftonLarsonAllen offers adaptable schedules and CPAs get help from coaches, who offer guidance and support in building on strengths and skill sets. “The single biggest change I’ve observed in almost 40 years is that people no longer step into a box and have to stay in that box,” Marino said. Dewar Meeks offers a flexible work environment and the technological tools for CPAs to work remotely as well. “We moved out to a suburb of Seattle… and opened shop with the goal of serving our clients well, but having a life and not missing what is so important,” Ekrem added.
Looking Ahead
Despite this progress, sources say there is much more to be done, and challenges to overcome in helping women navigate their intertwined professional and personal lives on the achievable road to partner.
For starters, firms also need to communicate earlier with their CPAs as to career options and possibilities, even though life changes may occur. “One of the most powerful ways to retain women is to set expectations early that your firm has many opportunities for success,” Cleaver said. Employers also must “be transparent about what real life is like,” acknowledged KPMG’s Marker. “The retention of women is a much more challenging equation.”
Firms also need to offer more creative career tracks and options for all employees, but especially women. If a female CPA plans to have a child, for instance, what are her options for scheduling and career growth? Organizations “need to be more creative because they are losing these amazing, talented, 30- to 35-year-old women that really just need a time-out or a detour before they come back,” Ekrem said. In addition, she noted, “Women need to negotiate better deals.” They also need to tout their abilities more and find their own styles and strengths versus copying what once was the norm. “Women need to stop apologizing for being smart and talented,” Marino added.
And most importantly, firms need to involve younger associates in business development meetings early in their careers, so that they are not blindsided later on. And they need to “think more creatively and three-dimensionally about what business development really is,” Cleaver advised. In other words, business development doesn’t always mean attending after-hour events, which doesn’t work well for some CPAs; clients can be gained in numerous ways, including via content marketing. Clark Nuber, as an example, doesn’t have a one-size-fits-all approach to business development. “People are able to develop their own style,” Wheeler said.
Firms may also want to consider establishing a formal succession plan, possibly incorporating gender into the mix to help elevate women into leadership roles. According to the 2017 CPA Firm Gender Survey, only 47% of all firms have created a formal succession planning process, with only 2% having a formal gender component in their guidelines.
Additionally, Cheyney noted, public accounting firms need to change their mindsets and realize that men and women often approach things differently but both bring unique attributes to the table. “Women bring a different perspective on leadership and we do better because of it,” he said. Organizations also need to figure out how to attract and retain CPAs amidst very tough competition from innovative and alluring companies. Finally, they must determine how to help manage employees’ workloads and demands. When all of these factors are considered and addressed, the number of women CPAs in leadership roles may naturally rise. This, sources indicate, is a continual work in progress.
“We still have a long way to go,” Cheyney said.
Cheryl Meyer is a freelance writer based in California. Her work has been published in the Journal of Accountancy. Contact her at meyerwrites@gmail.com.
This article appeared in the spring 2018 issue of the WashingtonCPA Magazine. Read more here.