Cover story: Sister act - life in accountancy for women 100 years on

ICAEW admitted the world’s first female chartered accountant, Mary Harris Smith, into its ranks in May 1920. The Tech Faculty, which covers a cross-over sector well known for low female representation, has had the issue on its radar for a long time. Chartech asked members from across the generations to share their views in this centenary year, and a summary of their views are outlined below.

Tech Faculty Board Member Anzo Francis knows the value of creating active champions in education and at work, having forged her path with the backing of strong personal role models. She thinks more needs to be done to offer career advice to girls so that they consider careers in accountancy, IT and tech and are encouraged to do A level maths. 

Caroline Rivett, Director of digital, security and privacy in the life sciences at KPMG, is involved in mentoring both men and women, and in reverse-mentoring, at KPMG. She thinks things have improved in terms of an awareness of the impact of culture on people and people being more positive about diversity in all its forms 

Nic Granger, Chair of the Tech Faculty and CFO at the Oil & Gas Authority, has taken care to focus her career on merit rather than gender. She says it’s important to have inclusive and diverse teams and to do this she needs people with different backgrounds, skills and experiences to bring in new ideas and approaches. 

Monqiue Malcolm-Hay, Senior Consultant at PwC and Co-founder of New Gen Accountants, is driven to bring a diverse workforce together for the greater good. She feels it’s proven that diversity of thought leads to better problem solving and she wholeheartedly believes that collaborating with individuals of different genders will enable firms to create better and more inclusive tech solutions. 

ICAEW has been considering its own position internally along with a specific initiative to highlight the position of women working in tech, noting that ICAEW bucks the trend with 40% of those at ICAEW in tech-based roles being women, compared with 20% across the board. ICAEW’s Senior eCommunications Executive Lucy Alfred and Digital Media Executive Birgit Lewinski, who are running the network, want to use the platform to encourage young women to train for a tech-related career. 

There are a large variety of resources highlighted in the article as well as a number of networking initiatives, including ICAEW’s Women in Tech initiative. 

Read full article* 

*Access to the full article is included within membership of the Tech Faculty, and to subscribers of Faculties Online. Tech Faculty membership gives you access to exclusive premium content including our regular magazine, webinars, and extensive online resources focused on technical skills to support your career. For more information about faculty membership and our latest joining offers, please visit icaew.com/jointechfac. For more information about Faculties Online, please visit icaew.com/subscribefo