Sarah Ghosh, FCMA, CGMA, is most of the way through her one-year term as CIMA president. In this episode of the FM podcast, intended to recognise International Women’s Day, she reflects on people she’s met, questions she’s asked, and progress made on numerous fronts.
Ghosh discussed the launch of an AICPA & CIMA mentoring programme, reflected on her background in technology, and shared highlights of her global travels.
FM resources:
Article about a finance director on leading with integrity
Article about a CFO in South Africa who champions collaboration
Article about a Singapore CFO on leadership
AICPA & CIMA resource:
Main page on diversity, equity, and inclusion
What you’ll learn from this episode:
- Three themes of her term as CIMA president.
- How the accounting profession can continue to be purpose-driven.
- Ways in which the profession can take the lead on inspiring inclusion.
- The stories of female leaders that “are really powerful”.
Play the episode below or read the edited transcript:
— To comment on this episode or to suggest an idea for another episode, contact Neil Amato at Neil.Amato@aicpa-cima.com.
Transcript
Neil Amato: Welcome to the FM podcast. This is your host, Neil Amato. I’m honoured today to be joined by CIMA President Sarah Ghosh. Sarah is a fellow of CIMA, and she holds the CGMA designation. Her term as CIMA president runs until June, and she’s joining the show today for an episode that focuses on International Women’s Day, which is March 8. Sarah, first, thank you and welcome to the FM podcast.
Sarah Ghosh: Thank you, Neil, really delighted to be here.
Amato: Great. We’re happy to have you as well. In past speaking engagements, you have mentioned that one theme of your year as CIMA president is “seizing the future”. Tell me a little more about what that means for you.
Ghosh: Yeah, I have three things actually that I’m sharing with Okorie Ramsey this year, and those are inclusion, innovation, and sustainability. For me, “seizing the future” is about really capitalising on opportunities that will actually make a difference in the future really, in an environment that we see is constantly changing. By doing that, I feel we can really ensure we secure our profession for future generations and continue to lead and be at the forefront of being that trusted adviser and a business partner.
Amato: That’s great. And, yes, you mentioned Okorie Ramsey. He is AICPA chair and then also the co-chair with you of AICPA & CIMA, together as the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants. So you have been working hand-in-hand. You’ve travelled all over. Obviously, in your role, you’ve talked to many different stakeholders. How does inclusiveness and creating a fair chance for everyone to succeed play a part of that “seizing the future” that you mentioned earlier?
Ghosh: I think it’s really important because people are at the heart of our profession, and we need to continue to attract new talent, and it’s become more challenging for us to do that. So in very turbulent times, I think it’s really important that we do broaden our perspective and encourage the next generations to come with us on this journey.
We are a great purpose-driven profession, and we make a difference. And one of the ways, I think, it’s really important that we’re becoming a more inclusive profession is by adapting our pathways to join us. So it really is making those positive shifts that we can support people in taking the qualification by, for example, moving to digital platforms, promoting apprenticeships, and then being a really approachable profession as well. So people can actually see and be inspired by what we do.
Amato: The official theme of International Women’s Day for 2024 is to “inspire inclusion”. Inclusion is something that I think has long been important to you. So, how can finance take the lead on inspiring inclusion?
Ghosh: I think we all have a role to play in this. I mean, it’s about how we support and encourage others. We are advocating very hard to elevate women in the profession, so we can continue to see female leaders rise to leadership roles. We really do need to make sure we take every opportunity to amplify female voices.
Actually this month, the FM magazine has just published a really interesting article from a female leader. It’s actually a series of articles, and Jasmine Zhong, based in Singapore, works for the London Stock Exchange Group. Those kinds of stories are really powerful, and I’m wanting to encourage and support more of those stories so we can actually elevate the work we’re doing, but also inspire other females.
But also, gender is only one dimension of diversity, and for me it’s about elevating and promoting all dimensions and just really to be able to make a difference and be that truly equitable profession we aspire to be.
Amato: I am glad you mentioned that series in FM. We will be sure to link to some of those articles in the show notes for this episode.
This concept: Pay it forward. when it comes to mentoring and supporting the next generations in the workplace, why is that important to you and to the profession as a whole?
Ghosh: I’ve been volunteering and advocating for over 15 years now for the profession. It’s been a real privilege, and I’m in a really privileged position actually to raise the profile of what we do and really to encourage and enable others to access opportunities to build their careers. It’s about supporting and encouraging others to find their voice and celebrate their successes.
If women aren’t in the room, challenge, why not? Again, coming back to stories, that’s a really important aspect of what we do in promoting the profession, and we need to be more visible and practically engage on that. In terms of mentoring, we’re doing an amazing piece of work on mentoring across the Association. Last year, the AICPA & CIMA Europe mentoring programme was launched, which actually rolled out across 22 European countries. So we are enabling more individuals to tap into that and to actually get in front of people to help them progress their careers and offer advice and mentoring and coaching as well. So that’s a really important aspect of what we’re doing in this space.
Amato: I was hoping you could tell some people who may not know about your background. You have a background in technology. I wonder first just a little bit about that and then also what it was like being in a field that I’m fairly certain, you were one of the few women?
Ghosh: Yeah. I hadn’t really thought about that until I started having more conversations about when I did start to go into the technology fields. I suppose it started when I first went to university. I did computer science there, and actually I was one of the first females from my school to take that subject.
When I got to university, there were not many females on that course. It wasn’t something I consciously thought about and considered actually. So based on my experience at university, I expected that also to translate into the work environment. My first job as a systems engineer actually played out in that there were more males than females. But I don’t feel I encountered any discrimination specifically on that in terms of gender or technical capability.
But I think what it did do is it really compelled me to do more to prove myself as a female in IT and also to promote females in that field as well. So, yeah, really interesting perspectives you get once you look back and think that was really quite insightful to recognise that that was happening around you. But, of course, the landscape today is very different: a lot more females in finance and accounting and IT, and lots of professions, which is a great place to be.
Amato: It is a great place to be. I’ll mention as an aside, this podcast is not about me, but I do have a daughter about to complete university, and she is a computer science major.
Ghosh: Ah, excellent.
Amato: She definitely doesn’t feel alone in the fact that she’s a woman in that field. So, yeah, it has changed.
Ghosh: Yes.
Amato: How can all the good feelings of one day on the calendar — it’s International Women’s Day, the official recognition of that day — be carried over to be year-round and more continuous support of women?
Ghosh: Yeah, I suppose my messages that we advocate every single day of the year — so, 366 days this year. That one day does elevate our work globally, and it spotlights the progress we continue to make and obviously highlights actually what else we need to do more of.
We are always doing this and promoting women in leadership, and it just gives us that one day to actually celebrate, I suppose, and do more activities around it to bring more people with us on this journey. The accounting profession, we’ve made a great progress in recent years in addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion, and we continue to do so. As I say, lots more that we are doing, and I’m really excited for what we’ve got planned around that date.
Amato: I mentioned earlier some travels. I mentioned Okorie Ramsey. We have an article in our Journal of Accountancy that talks about some of his travels. Now I’m going to ask about your travels. As CIMA president, you’ve been around to a lot of places. What are some moments that maybe stick out to you? Maybe a conversation with a student at university or young professionals or other leaders in the profession. Do you have anything that you’d like to share?
Ghosh: Yes, so in this role as CIMA president, I have the privilege to meet lots of members and students, organisations, but just a couple of things that really stand out for me around celebrating successes. I go to new members events and present certificates to people who are joining us, and I see greater female representation, greater ethnic diversity, and more females are actually choosing to switch careers later in life and also career returners.
This does really confirm to me that we are moving the needle on females in the profession. Also when I do go on regional visits, I also ensure that I do meet with aspiring female leaders and just really get a sense of their challenges and look at how we as a profession can support them in reaching the senior leadership positions. And my constant message to them is to find your voice and seek out allies who will advocate for you.
Also, I do a lot of roundtables with senior leaders, and in some regions, I am one of a small number of females at the table. I always do make a point of asking, “What is your organisation doing to promote females to senior leadership positions?” — with the aspiration of seeing more females attending in future events. So it’s just really inspiring to see the work that’s going on and actually the impact we’re making in this space.
Amato: I mentioned your term runs until June. As you look back on the first, I guess, eight or nine months of it, how would you reflect on it?
Ghosh: It’s a really interesting question. I would reflect on how honoured I am to be representing this profession. The people I’ve met have been amazing. I just really do enjoy understanding more about different cultures, different traditions, and also companies and organisations that really have benefited actually from us as a profession being in their organisations. So, yeah, just really enjoyed it, and I’m just really conscious that time is running by to June, but I will continue to do my best to raise the profile as I have done in the past few months.
Amato: That’s great, Sarah. Anything else you’d like to add in closing?
Ghosh: No. I don’t think there is. I think we’ve covered off a lot of what I’d like to have shared with people here. So, thank you very much for giving me the time.
