‘'CIMA is well placed to drive workplace equality'’

The opportunities for management accountants to get to the top of the career ladder have never been greater. But a flurry of recent reports has made it clear that male finance professionals are having a better time of it than their female counterparts.

As we move into the second decade of the 21st century, this is hard to believe. But the figures speak for themselves.

The Harvard Business Review recently found that women hold just 3 per cent of Fortune 500 CEO positions. Private companies aren’t doing much better.

A review of 11,000 businesses by recruitment firm Grant Thornton International calculated that globally, the number of women in senior management positions recently dropped to 20 per cent.

The reasons behind this disparity have been studied by CIMA in depth and I am confident that the challenges can be overcome.

Although management accounting used to be a male-dominated environment, women now make up a third of CIMA’s members and 44 per cent of its students. In fact, CIMA has had one of the highest growth rates in female members of all the accounting institutes since 2003.

However, there is still some way to go before female leadership is widespread. Our research has shown that despite an increase in professionally qualified women, female CIMA members are ten times less likely than their male counterparts to be in a senior position, such as CFO or CEO. This pattern is repeated across the business spectrum.

Research carried out by CIMA’s Centre of Excellence at the University of Bath School of Management found that female members still lag behind in terms of salary and seniority after the early career stage.

The gap increases after ten years and most significantly after 20 years. So, we have future female business leaders in the pipeline, but the attitude of both members and their employers needs to change if a more balanced picture is to emerge in the near future.

One of our latest reports, “Breaking Glass – Strategies for Tomorrow’s Leaders”, highlights the key obstacles faced by women in the workplace. It also presents the business case for increasing the number of female high flyers.

Our research found that one of the contributing factors to the current imbalance is a trait among women to undervalue their skills.

There also appears to be a propensity to focus on team-playing rather than self-promotion. However, both CIMA’s research and recent analysis by management consultants McKinsey & Company, found that one of the major barriers to women reaching the top is the fact that most workplaces are still male-based structures which fail to support the still-predominant role that women play in looking after their children and keeping on top of household responsibilities.

Both bodies of research concluded that women have the potential to boost the talent pool and the bottom line. To gauge the financial benefit of women in the workplace McKinsey compared companies with a high female representation at senior level with the average performance in each sector.

The research found that, in general, the financial performance of companies with a higher female density outperformed their sector in terms of return on equity, EBIT operating results and stock price growth.

CIMA is committed to supporting its female students and members for the long term. The institute’s “Breaking Glass” report brings together advice and insights from senior female management accountants from across the world. The women’s network on CIMAsphere is now a vibrant space for sharing insights and experiences.

One of the discussions on the women’s network has been focused on whether women need to “put themselves out there more”. But this also applies to male members.

To remain at the forefront of business development, CIMA members must sell their skills as business partners. Clearly, there is further work to be done. But I believe that chartered management accountants are in an excellent position to develop careers that are both successful and equitable.