Why accounting firms must focus on what matters for women accountants

Our researchers

Carly Moulang

Overview

Despite accounting firms and other accounting workplaces introducing a range of formal support initiatives in recent years including parental leave, leadership courses and flexible working arrangements, women are still facing substantial challenges in the workplace.

Indeed, Monash Business School Department of Accounting research has found that the formal support initiatives described above, while necessary, are not enough to provide effective support to women accountants and can reinforce gender barriers. The research shows instead what really works to improve overall wellbeing is to increase women’s psychological resources through more informal means such as manager support, autonomy, and initiatives to improve psychological safety.

“Organisations can proactively foster these elements through creating a culture that values open communication and mutual support,” says author Associate Professor Carly Moulang.

“Creating conditions of psychological safety only occur with intent, making this a priority where staff feel safe for interpersonal risk-taking is an initiative that all workplaces can create.”

The study draws on a survey of 203 qualified women accountants working in Australia. It tests whether informal organisation practices across an individual, team, leader and organisational levels can help women’s wellbeing and flow on to the organisation through engagement and reduced burnout. The research also identified that women who work in Big 4 firms, have children or are over the age of 35 years are those most at risk of burn out and feeling less engaged.

The role that organisational culture plays is also critical. Results indicate that culture is significant when it comes to building interpersonal trust which also impacts women accountants’ wellbeing. However, changing workplace cultures can be a challenge.

“Accounting firms should consider cultivating a culture that promotes trust and collaboration, thereby contributing to the psychological resources of their women employees,” says A/Prof Moulang.

Takeaways for accounting firms

Accounting firms must recognise the vulnerability of women accountants in specific demographic categories, such as those working in Big 4 firms, having children, or being over the age of 35 and tailor supportive interventions.
This may involve rethinking unsustainable workloads often faced by women accountants working in Big 4 and those with children. This will also help prevent burnout in the first place while increasing diversity among accountants.
The accounting profession needs to progress beyond developing policies and procedures and seriously initiate the changes needed to properly invest in cultivating supportive organisational practices for the long term. This helps reduce the turnover and burnout of women accountants due to professional and gender barriers.

Implications for research

This study goes beyond previous work that focuses on gender representation and impact on profits to revealing characteristics of workplaces that can better support women accountants.
It investigates the relationship within the ecology of the workplace between informal organisational practices, psychological resources and organisational outcomes for women accountants.
The study contributes to the conservation of resources theory by showing how psychological resources are acquired in a gendered profession through informal workplaces practices.
Further research could explore overarching activities that capture the experiences of both men and women across the profession.