Accounting firms may offer flexibility, but outdated expectations and missed opportunities can still push experienced professionals out the door.

The Disruptors
With Liz Farr
For CPA Trendlines

Accounting firms have spent years worrying about the front end of the talent pipeline. Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk wants them to look at the other end as well.

Ruszczyk, owner and research lead of the Accounting MOVE Project, led this year's MOVE report, Caught in the Middle: How Caregiving Pressures Are Reshaping Women's Careers in Public Accounting. This new report examines what happens when experienced professionals take on care for children, aging parents, spouses and partners, and whether their firms keep them on the path to leadership.

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Firms “tend to be pretty much 50:50 gender parity up until you get to the senior director, almost going to go into partnership,” Ruszczyk says. At MOVE firms, women hold about 42% of partner roles. Across all U.S. firms, that ratio drops to around 34%. For women of color, the drop is even sharper. According to Ruszczyk, about 20% of associates are women of color while only 5% of partners are.

Caregiving isn't the only cause for the disparity, but it is “one of the areas where we’re seeing some leaks spring up,” Ruszczyk explains. While caregiving has always been a part of the lives of accountants – men and women – several converging trends are making this a bigger issue today.