Pinched between immediate capacity shortfalls and applying talent to innovation, firms are crafting new ways to recognize and reward women’s resilience.
By Bonnie Buol Ruszcyk
You can’t go the distance on an empty tank.
It takes pacing, re-fueling and constant systems checks to achieve long-term goals, for both accounting and advisory firms and women in the profession. Individual career sustainability is essential for firm growth – and vice versa.
In the recently released 2023 Accounting MOVE Project report, a talent-starved profession receives a fresh influx of strategies and inspiration for investing in the women it must attract and retain to achieve short goals and survive long-term. With nearly 75% of accounting firm leaders eligible for retirement, and accounting degree college enrollment continuing to drop, the profession is at a crossroads. It is more important than ever for firms to find ways to attract and retain employees to not only meet increasing client needs, but to simply survive. So, what are firms that are outpacing the industry doing differently?
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The Accounting MOVE Project report finds firms embracing the new super skill of career sustainability are rising to the occasion. For women, career sustainability addresses the capacity to maintain motivation and energy at every step, while rebalancing the personal and professional with each engagement. For firms, it engenders a leadership culture, defining new capabilities, qualifications, and measurements for unmapped growth. And for both, this super skill is the ability to “skate to where the puck is” on slanted ice through upended physics. Through it all, mutual respect and collaboration remains paramount, the inescapable legacy of the workplace upheaval brought on by the pandemic.
“In today’s increasingly challenging talent crunch, it is important for firms to create opportunities for women to advance in the way that makes the most sense for them,” said Tricia Bencich, Inclusion & Social Responsibility Associate Director for Moss Adams. “We must work together to ensure clients get the attention they need, employees have the power to craft their ideal careers, and firms can continue to thrive.”
Along with this year’s report, the Accounting and Financial Women’s Alliance and Accounting MOVE Project released its two lists of exemplary CPA firms, based on the Accounting MOVE Project results: the 2023 Best Firms for Women and the 2023 Best Firms for Equity Leadership. Winning firms are listed below.
“We are excited to see firms embrace radical flexibility so women can create their own career path instead of being forced to stick to a rigid, and outdated, progression,” said Cindy Beets, Global Head of Marketing, SAPRO. “It is also encouraging to see so many firms introducing and expanding holistic well-being offerings so women can take care of themselves – as well as others – no matter where they are in their career journey.”
“When options abound, women want to work for firms that appreciate their talents and give them opportunities to advance at a pace that fits with the rest of their lives. That’s why programs like the Accounting MOVE Project are so important to identify firms that have a history of women in leadership and offer flexible career options,” said Cindy Stanley, Executive Director of the Accounting and Financial Women’s Alliance.
“When the 2023 Nobel prize in economics is awarded to a historian for her work unmasking the ingrained imbalance in wages and opportunities between men and women, we are in good company,” said Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk, Accounting MOVE Project president. “We are committed to identifying and sharing best practices so the profession as a whole can become more equitable and attract a more diverse slate of leaders.”
The Best CPA Firms for Women
(In alphabetical order)
- Abbott, Stringham & Lynch
- Armanino
- BeachFleischman PLLC
- BerryDunn
- Bland & Associates, P.C.
- BPM LLP
- Clark Nuber
- Councilor, Buchanan & Mitchell, PC
- Eide Bailly
- James Moore & Co.
- Johanson & Yau
- Moss Adams
- Rehmann LLC
- RoseRyan, a ZRG Company
- Schellman
- The Bonadio Group
The Best CPA Firms for Equity Leadership
(In descending order of percentage of women partners & principals. To qualify, women must comprise at least 31% of a firm’s partners and principals.)
- 73% KWC Certified Public Accountants
- 61% Kerkering, Barberio & Co.
- 57% BeachFleischman PLLC
- 57% RoseRyan, a ZRG Company
- 53% Abbott, Stringham & Lynch
- 50% Clark Nuber
- 48% James Moore & Co.
- 44% Bland & Associates, P.C.
- 44% HBE LLP
- 43% The Bonadio Group
- 43% MCM CPAs & Advisors LLP (The firm recently merged in with Cherry Bekaert.)
- 43% Jones & Roth
- 42% Johanson & Yau
- 40% Councilor Buchanan & Mitchell, PC
- 39% BerryDunn
- 37% Rehmann LLC
- 35% Frazier & Deeter
- 31% Eide Bailly
- 31% BPM LLP
About the Accounting MOVE Project
The Accounting MOVE Project is based on the MOVE methodology, developed by research partner Wilson-Taylor Associates, Inc., which investigates the factors proven to be essential to women’s career success:
• M – Money: fair pay practices
• O – Opportunity: advancement and leadership development
• V – Vital supports: work-life programs that remove barriers
• E – Entrepreneurship: operating experience for managing or business ownership
The Accounting MOVE Project is the basis for two recognitions of excellence for women in the accounting and advisory profession, both awarded by the AFWA:
- Best CPA Firms for Women: To earn a spot on the list, an employer must have both a proportionate number of women at most or all levels of management and proven success with the MOVE factors. An employer cannot win by having a rich array of programs but few women in leadership. We believe that if a firm’s MOVE factors are effective, it will have a healthy and growing proportion of women in its leadership pipeline.
- Best CPA Firms for Equity Leadership: This list recognizes firms with at least 31% women partners and principals, as roughly a third is the widely recognized “tipping point” or members of any identity group to have individual impact. The Equity Leadership list recognizes firms that have achieved that milestone through any combination of culture, programs, initiatives, and growth.
Methodology
Since 2010, the Accounting MOVE Project has measured and supported the advancement of women at accounting and consulting firms. MOVE is the only annual benchmarking project that both counts and advocates for women in the profession.
The MOVE Project advisory board includes leaders from association partners the Accounting and Financial Women’s Alliance, founding sponsor Moss Adams and supporting sponsor, SAPRO.
MOVE is made possible by support from its sponsors and by administrative fees paid by participating firms. Firms receive benchmarking reports based on the MOVE Project. See the archives of MOVE Project reports at https://accountingmoveproject.com/archives/.
