women

women must see politics as leadership to get ahead

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leadership skills and womenfour reasons women hold themselves back.

by ida o. abbott
sponsoring women: what men need to know

many women are uncomfortable calling attention to their achievements and ambitions, dislike politics, have difficulty asking others for a career boost or underestimate the importance of powerful backers. this makes it harder for potential sponsors to recognize how worthy these women are of their support.

more on sponsoring women for leadership: 5 ways gender bias plays out at cpa firms | 3 reasons why men don’t pick women protégées | men advance 2 to 1 over women without sponsors | 18 ways sponsors can help their protegees | the 6 market advantages of women-led firms | beyond mentoring: why sponsoring women for leadership matters

some women hurt their own chances for sponsorship by failing to let sponsors know what they want and why they merit it. sponsors are drawn to star performers who display confidence and a drive to succeed. where a man might insist he is the right person for a job and ask to be promoted, a woman who is equally or even better qualified may downplay her qualifications for the job. instead of aggressively pursuing promotions and opportunities, she waits to be asked, and then, when asked, may turn the offer down. why? read more →

mommy bias persists

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woman torn between work and familyfathers have at least two advantages over mothers.

by ida o. abbott
sponsoring women: what men need to know

one pattern of gender bias is exhibiting “maternal wall” bias, which leads people to believe that women with children are unable to meet the demands of leadership.

more on sponsoring women for leadership: 5 ways gender bias plays out at cpa firms | 3 reasons why men don’t pick women protégées | men advance 2 to 1 over women without sponsors | 18 ways sponsors can help their protegees | the 6 market advantages of women-led firms | beyond mentoring: why sponsoring women for leadership matters

people assume that women with children are less committed to their work. this bias arises from the stereotypes that create conflicting expectations for mothers and career women: good mothers should always be available to their children, while good business people should always be available to their clients. read more →

different standards, double binds challenge women

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businessman cutting back jobs. all on white background.women are judged on their performance, men on their potential.

by ida o. abbott
sponsoring women: what men need to know

common patterns of gender bias include holding women to higher standards than men and expressing contradictory expectations (“double binds”) for women.

more on sponsoring women for leadership: 5 ways gender bias plays out at cpa firms | 3 reasons why men don’t pick women protégées | men advance 2 to 1 over women without sponsors | 18 ways sponsors can help their protegees | the 6 market advantages of women-led firms | beyond mentoring: why sponsoring women for leadership matters

different standards: people expect more of women than of men and they hold women to higher standards. this sets the bar higher for women who aspire to leadership and makes it more difficult for them to prove their value to the organization, even though research shows that women outperform men in 17 of 67 critical leadership skills, while men outperform women in only four. read more →

5 ways gender bias plays out at cpa firms

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business meeting of a woman and two menthe harmful impact of gender bias on women’s careers.

by ida o. abbott
sponsoring women: what men need to know

gender bias reflects entrenched beliefs and assumptions about women based on stereotypes about appropriate roles and behaviors for women.

unconscious thoughts about the kinds of work women are and are not suited for, especially if they are mothers, remove highly qualified women from consideration for leadership opportunities and positions.

ida o. abbott, sponsoring women
abbott

more on sponsoring women for leadership: 3 reasons why men don’t pick women protégées | men advance 2 to 1 over women without sponsors | 18 ways sponsors can help their protegees | the 6 market advantages of women-led firms | beyond mentoring: why sponsoring women for leadership matters

in the past, working women suffered overt discrimination and explicit bias. they were told outright they were not “fit” for certain jobs, were too emotional and unreliable to be given responsible roles, and were taking the place of men who needed to support families. sometimes the bias was ostensibly intended to “protect” women and occasionally it was hostile. but it was out in the open and women understood the barriers they faced. read more →

3 reasons why men don’t pick women protégées

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woman and man working with calculatorwhen leadership models are male, sometimes female candidates go unrecognized.

by ida o. abbott
sponsoring women: what men need to know

let’s assume a powerful man works with two junior colleagues, a man and a woman, who are both equally talented, motivated and superbly skilled performers. according to what we know from research and experience, that powerful man is more likely to sponsor the man than the woman.

more on sponsoring women for leadership: men advance 2 to 1 over women without sponsors | 18 ways sponsors can help their protegees | the 6 market advantages of women-led firms | beyond mentoring: why sponsoring women for leadership matters read more →

18 ways sponsors can help their protegees

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and how to tell the difference between a mentor and a sponsor.

ida o. abbott, sponsoring women
abbott

by ida o. abbott
sponsoring women: what men need to know

the practice of mentorship is well known and well established in today’s workplace. a mentor is someone who helps a more junior person learn, develop and achieve her professional goals.

mentoring is the process by which the mentor and mentee work together to identify and help the mentee move toward those goals. but sponsorship is intended specifically to promote career advancement. read more →

the 6 market advantages of women-led firms

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ida o. abbott, sponsoring women
abbott

changing marketplace demands changing firms.

by ida o. abbott
sponsoring women: what men need to know

most male leaders today under­stand how important it is to keep high-performing women in the pipeline and help them achieve their potential within the organization.

more on women in accounting: men, women: a tale of two brains for business  |  beyond mentoring: why sponsoring women for leadership matters  |  firms that ‘get’ women stand to win the talent wars

these men are genuinely concerned about their firms’ inability to retain and advance the women they hire because having a substantial number of women leaders is a demonstrably significant benefit to the company, while a lack of gender diversity at the top of organizations can be very costly to the bottom line. read more →

men, women: a tale of two brains for business

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man woman brainwhat brain science tells us about how to work better together.

by sandi smith leyva
the accountant’s accelerator

we need to acknowledge that in the tax and accounting workplace, women do not understand men, and men do not understand women. it happens in dating, so it should not be a surprise when it happens at work.

this isn’t a new topic. but what we’re doing now is not working, or it’s working at a glacial pace. we actually lost ground during the recession years and are now going backwards. the statistics are even worse in small firms, where 80 percent of the talent pool are women but only 12 percent are partners.

luckily, we now know dozens of reasons why and have hundreds of tools and skill builders to help.

here are just a few revelations from emerging brain science: read more →

beyond mentoring: why sponsoring women for leadership matters

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man woman handshake shake hands istock_000010387373smallit’s time for the men running cpa firms to “man up” and get serious about promoting women into leadership roles.

by ida o. abbott
sponsoring women: what men need to know

smart accounting firm leaders want to be in the forefront of efforts to advance women. as the global economy continues to become more competitive, firms need to use all the talent they can muster — and more and more of that talent will be women.

ida o. abbott, sponsoring women
abbott

today cpatrendlines launches the exclusive new series, “sponsoring women: what men need to know.” author ida o. abbott delivers the tools cpa firms need to develop a new generation of women in leadership. training, encouragement, and even mentoring are all helpful. but abbott argues it takes person-to-person sponsorship to finally break through. particularly, she says, it takes a man. the role of women in the cpa profession is a critical issue. abbott’s is an eminently practical strategy. and it’s about time that men “manned up” about promoting women cpas. – the editors

companies that successfully tap into the full potential of women will be far ahead of their competitors. the key to doing it is to identify women who are likely to succeed and sponsor them so they reach the top levels of leadership. this requires direct per­sonal involvement by leaders, particularly leaders who are men.

read more →

growth and change in the cpa workforce

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卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 finds tight cost controls, slow wage increases and an influx of women workers.

by rick telberg
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

lifted by a steadily recovering economy and aggressive retooling, the nation’s cpa firms are adding staff at a 2.3% annualized rate, the strongest advance in a year, according to a new 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 study. but hours are unpredictable, wage growth is stalled and firms are trading higher-paid professionals for cheaper labor.

cpa firm employment trends, via 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

the study goes on to report new data, trends and analysis regarding:

– the total cpa firm workforce
– leverage ratios
– productivity efforts
– cost controls
– wages and hours
– women in the workforce

read more →