The British Army’s Management Accountant Services (Army) — known as MAS(A) — is an exemplar in its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices thanks, predominantly, to an unflinchingly meritocratic recruitment process.
A meritocratic approach does not play out in the same way in every organisation — it works for MAS(A) because of the unit’s purely egalitarian recruitment and advancement ethos.
The result of MAS(A)’s approach is an elite, 54-person unit composed of just over half non-white/British personnel (both soldiers and officers), compared to around 10% of UK Regular Forces personnel who identify as non-white. Women occupy around a third of senior MAS(A) officer roles and the unit has personnel who openly identify with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community (LGBTQ+).
“Because of the nature of our work, because it’s so complex and so high profile, we need the most talented people — whatever their background,” said outgoing Chief of Staff Lt. Col. Paul Carcone, FCMA, CGMA.
The resulting mutually-supportive culture is one based on shared military experiences, a strong sense of belonging, and the collective idea that each and every member of the organisation is talented, dedicated, and fully deserves their place — and these are key traits of an inclusive and equitable workplace.
MAS(A)’s success with diversity
MAS(A) is an outlier in diversity recruitment even compared to the already highly diverse British Armed Forces, said Carcone, because the specialism’s reputation draws candidates from so many backgrounds.
“We’re asking them to undertake incredibly complicated and high-profile projects, almost immediately,” he said.
During recruitment, MAS(A) focuses purely on overall performance and attributes meritocracy as a key to success, both professionally and in terms of DEI. The result is that every person joining the unit has an equitable opportunity to contribute and provide their strengths and diverse perspectives. (Learn more about the recruitment process in the sidebar “How the British Army Recruits Management Accountants”.)
“We home in on the potential people have and allow people to thrive with the abilities that they have and the skillsets that they bring,” Warrant Officer Class Two Shami Muzavazi, ACMA, CGMA, said. “Everyone has a different skillset, but whatever your skillset, it’s really celebrated.”
MAS(A)’s success in building a diverse and inclusive culture led to the unit’s nomination for the Team of the Year category in the 2022 European Diversity Awards and a win at the Ministry of Defence Finance Awards in a diversity category in the same year.
The rich diversity within the unit also creates an unapologetically robust and fiercely-guarded esprit de corps.
“The culture is very much based on professionalism,” Muzavazi said. “Everyone treats everyone with respect because we have a level of understanding that everyone is there to learn and to do their job in the best way possible. If you’re not supportive of your peers, it reflects badly on everyone.”
Tips to embrace and support DEI
The way an organisation prioritises and implements DEI initiatives is not a one-size-fits-all approach and takes continual work to ensure policies and the culture evolve positively.
Additionally, as organisations prioritise DEI and hire more diverse candidates or promote them into leadership positions, an organisation’s internal policies or procedures may need to be reassessed to ensure an equitable and inclusive culture.
Carcone and Muzavazi share their best practice on how to build and sustain a diverse and inclusive culture:
Be patient. A diverse, inclusive, and high performing workplace requires patience to cultivate. “Forcing diversity clumsily [creates a] danger of being counterproductive … it’s more likely to build resistance or endanger an improving culture,” Carcone said.
Embrace differences. Each employee’s lived experience is an asset to an organisation, and Carcone believes that differences, when celebrated, add to organisational cohesion. MAS(A) also uses religious and cultural holidays as all-rank bonding moments.
“We embrace individual and cultural differences and, where appropriate, balance the leveraging of strengths with identifying development areas,” Carcone said.
Focus on culture and team building. Fostering connections builds inclusivity and a sense of belonging.
“People getting to know each other has an amazing effect on the culture,” Muzavazi said. “Allowing each other to be in each other’s company really helps to build that inclusive culture.”
Adventure training, team breakfasts, and joint professional development opportunities all fortify the bonds of the MAS(A) unit.
Celebrate strengths and strengthen weaknesses. Personnel within MAS(A) are assigned to projects based on their strengths and all successes are openly celebrated. Soldiers also know that if they have a knowledge gap, they won’t be ridiculed for asking for help. Oftentimes, it will be junior members of the organisation assisting. Muzavazi also appreciates that MAS(A) commits to each person’s professional development, and soldiers “are expected to work on their weaker areas and are expected to deliver where [they are] not particularly strong”.
“A lot of projects are matched based on what you can bring that’s additional to being an accountant as well,” Muzavazi said.
Establish communication forums. A positive benefit of MAS(A)’s inclusive culture that Carcone has noticed is that personnel are willing to speak up early on emerging issues as they are motivated to maintain the interdependent culture.
“We’ve set up forums where our senior soldier gathers views [of] the Staff Sergeants, and other Warrant Officers,” Carcone said. “The team [is] reassuringly forthcoming with views, which are listened to, evaluated, and integrated wherever possible.”
And for further resources and support, Muzavazi is one of two equality, diversity, and inclusion advisers and is a workplace mediator for the UK Army.
A ‘close-knit community’
MAS(A) may be an elite unit, but its inclusivity is highly valued by Carcone and Muzavazi.
“We have an incredibly close-knit community where no one is envious of each other,” Carcone said. “I’ve never worked in an organisation where there has been such a beautiful sense of belonging.”
How the British Army recruits management accountants
The personnel within the Management Accountant Services (Army) or MAS(A) unit have a unique blend of military and financial expertise. Selected around the middle of their military career, applicants go through a rigorous selection process. MAS(A) recruitment happens on an as-needed basis, generally about once per year.
After applying to MAS(A), approximately 16 personnel are selected to undertake an intensive nine-day skills assessment and training course that ends with management accounting and finance skills examinations. Generally, the strongest six applicants are then chosen for sponsorship and progress through MAS(A)’s training framework. Applicants must score at least 80% on both of their recruitment examinations to progress, and if they do not reach that benchmark, they don’t have another opportunity to try again.
Ultimately, only around two make it into the specialisation having worked towards achieving the CGMA designation, which takes about two years.
“A lot of soldiers join the Army in the hope that we are [what] they get selected for,” said outgoing Chief of Staff Lt. Col. Paul Carcone, FCMA, CGMA.
Most applicants do not have a financial background prior to applying for MAS(A) and positions are open to anyone in the Army, but they must be at least a Staff Sergeant on arrival — equivalent to about ten years’ experience in the military.
The unit is composed of 54 soldiers and officers, all trained as management accountants, and two civilians who perform administration duties. Fourteen are officers and the rest are senior non-commissioned officers. MAS(A) adapts workplace practices to assist soldiers with long-term injuries and those with families. Resilience and stress management training are also offered as part of MAS(A)’s continuing professional development programme.
Whilst it doesn’t happen often, MAS(A) soldiers can still deploy on military operations and officers return to the mainstream Army to retain currency. Carcone was recently posted to HQ NATO in Brussels, as an example.
MAS(A) personnel don’t do “traditional accounting”, Carcone said, but instead are involved with cost models and investment appraisals of major strategic projects, including contract management for the UK Defence Academy, costing childcare provision for the entirety of the Ministry of Defence, developing the ten-year army budget, costing military deployments and exercises, and other sensitive projects.
“We offer a world-class qualification and an opportunity to serve the nation,” Carcone said. “Our soldiers and officers … routinely work on projects that [are] at the cutting edge of defence and Army capability. They have unparalleled levels of responsibility and work both individually and as a team to deliver with aplomb.”
Jamie Roessner is a senior content writer at AICPA & CIMA, together as the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants. To comment on this article, contact Oliver Rowe at Oliver.Rowe@aicpa-cima.com.
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