The US Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) board member Jeanette Franzel called for innovative thinking and changes in how accounting firms traditionally conduct business and manage their people in order to increase the number of women at the top of the profession.
Speaking at the eighth annual Washington Women Speak: How Women Leaders Succeed in the Washington, DC Ecosystem Franzel said the lack of gender diversity is a concern throughout corporate America and the accounting profession is no exception.
She said that as accounting firms "provide assurance over financial reporting and disclosures to protect investors and promote confidence in our capital markets" their "ability to retain and develop top talent is essential to this mandate".
"Diagnosing the reasons why women leave accounting firms in such high numbers will accomplish several things, including helping firms to (1) better address the barriers and problems faced by women in their organisations; (2) take stock of their diversity and human capital practices more generally; and (3) better understand the connection between effective talent management and their specialised 'gatekeeper' role in the capital markets."
Franzel said it is key to examine whether reasons such as "excessive hours, uncontrollable schedules, unwieldy travel schedules, and lack of viable career paths that are compatible with other life activities" are contributing to women leaving the profession and called for finding solutions to these problems, which "need to be structural and organisational".
"If the profession can address the organisational and structural problems that are causing women to leave accounting firms, then the firms' ability to retain top talent will improve vastly," Franzel said in her speech.
Franzel also emphasised the importance of diversity for accounting firms, not only gender diversity.
"Research shows that organisations with diverse leadership teams outperform those with homogeneous leadership teams," she said.
"The complexity of auditing -- and the vast responsibilities of firms in providing assurance over financial reporting for the benefit of investors and the markets -- requires harnessing the talents and energies of a diverse workforce."
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