Google “female accountant articles” and you’ll get the following:
- 2017 Most Powerful Women in Accounting
- The Most Important Issues for Women in the Accounting Profession
- Gender Roles in Public Accounting and the Absence of Women in Upper Level Management
- Behind the Numbers: When it Comes to Female CPA’s, Statistics are Not Black and White
The further back you look, more articles were written about the rise of female accountants. Female accountants have been making their presence more noticeable since the 90’s when the demand for accountants was on the rise.
This week I’m going to explore my beginning as a female accountant, why statistics don’t paint a true picture, the female business owner trend, the new generation of “conscious creators” that female accountants are poised to support and how I can support you by showing you how to manage your mind.
My humble beginnings as a female accountant
My own desire to be an accountant started in high school in the 80’s. I remember doing really well in an accounting course and my teacher encouraging me to pursue accounting in college because it was a “great career for a woman”.
Then in the mid 90’s, the trend toward flexible schedules began to grow because firms could not afford to lose well trained, hard working women who wanted a career and a family life. A lot of discussions centered around the proverbial “glass ceiling”. I was working at Deloitte & Touche in NY at the time and was the first person in the tax department to be offered a part time position after my daughter was born because the partner in charge knew my value and didn’t want to lose me.
I don’t believe it paints a true picture
Since that time, female accountants have come a long way. There is still a high demand by firms that have become more flexible than ever before. People want work life balance (whatever that means for them) and they don’t want to have to sacrifice their career or their family.
The statistics will tell you that 50% of accounting college students are female but only 24% of all partnership positions at CPA firms are held by women.
Does that seem disheartening? I don’t believe it paints a true picture.
When looking at the statistics for smaller firms, the percentage of female partners with ownership equity can be upwards of 40% depending on the firm’s size. Also, 26% of solo practices are owned by women.
As the quote says “Necessity is the mother of invention”. If women can’t find what we’re looking for in a male dominated firm, we’re going out on our own and creating it for ourselves as we should.
This general trend of female owned businesses is also increasing in record numbers (approximately 11.3 million women –owned businesses were reported in 2016).
Why is this trend important for female accountants?
These female business owners are looking for guidance from their trusted accounting professional and are looking for someone who speaks their language; someone who gets what it takes to run a successful business while managing the other areas of their life the way only another woman would understand.
Female owned businesses are looking for accounting services to help them grow with honesty and compassion. They want to know that the person on the other side of the spreadsheet gets them; their dreams, goals, concerns and challenges.
Female accountants can support female owned businesses in a collaborative way. We already possess skills that make us good team members:
- Listening skills – women know how to ask questions and really listen to what’s being said in verbal and non-verbal communication
- “Women’s intuition” – women can size up another person much faster than their male counterpart
- Ability to multi-task – women are known for juggling many tasks at the same time and still being able to produce excellent results
- Inherent patience – aggressive business strategies are not paying off the way they once did
- Social Networking – women are natural networkers and have the advantage when it comes to social media
“Conscious creators” – another reason that female accountants are the future
In addition to the rise of female owned businesses, there is a new generation of young business owners that are showing up in unique ways. They are considered “conscious creators”. They are building businesses that make a difference and a profit rather than just slaying the competition at all costs.
Female accountants are innately more conscious creators ourselves. We can feel where a client is coming from, understand what matters to them and why and translate that to supporting our client’s vision. We already possess what the new generation of young business owners is bringing to the table in the way we approach business and life in general.
All of the qualities listed above that make us good team members translates to being a trusted professional at a time when the accounting profession may have lost some of its credibility. Female accountants have the ability to show up in a way that can change that perception.
So whether we are on the partner track at a large firm, wearing many hats at a small firm or running the show at our own firm, we are the future of accounting. We are poised and ready at a time in history where women are truly needed in ways that are more important to businesses than ever before.
We have the ability to bring in more business based on how we show up in the world, to manage clients in a collaborative way and to support the vision that clients so desperately need.
How I can support you
I show female accountants what’s possible when they manage their minds.
How we feel and act as well as the results in our life, come from how we think. Our mind is our greatest tool but many of us have never been taught how to use it to our benefit. Our self-confidence, our way of handling problems, our ability to find solutions and the way we handle all aspects of our life is limitless when we know what’s creating our life.
When I work with clients, I teach the Manage Your Mind Model which puts us in control of creating the results we really desire (for help with the model sign-up here for the free “5 Simple Steps to Reduce Overwhelm Today”).
By learning to manage our mind, we are able to improve all aspects of our life no matter what we may be struggling with.
Summary
- Statistics don’t paint a true picture of female accountant’s progress
- Female business owners are on the rise and they are looking for accounting professionals to support their vision
- Female accountants already possess the skills that make them an important team member
- A new generation of business owners are creating successful businesses in a more collaborative way than previous generations
- Female accountants already possess what the new generation of business owners is bringing to the table
- Learning to manage our minds puts us in control of creating the results we really desire
If you’d like some help with exploring what’s possible, please feel free to schedule a strategy session or email me at dawn@cpa-moms-coach.com and we can get to work together.