Ep. 193: Diversifying Global Accounting Talent: Actionable Solutions for Progress

In this special edition of Count Me In, we dive into trailblazing
new DE&I research conducted in partnership by The Institute
of Management Accountants (IMA), The International Federation of
Accountants (IFAC), and The California Society of CPAs (CalCPA).
The new report,  Diversifying Global Accounting Talent:
Actionable Solutions for Progress, details more than 70 practices
organizations can use to improve inclusivity and diversity among
their workforces. Jeff Thomson, President and CEO of IMA is
joined by Kevin Dancey, CEO of IFAC and Denise LeDuc Froemming,
President and CEO of CalCPA to discuss the findings and why more
than 60 professional accountancy organizations from around the
world have signed on to the report as DE&I Advocates


Read the report Diversifying Global Accounting
Talent: Actionable Solutions for Progress 


Full Episode Transcript:
Adam: (00:05)
Welcome back to Count Me In, the podcast that explores the world
of business from the management accountant's perspective. Today,
we have a special edition as we take a closer look at the
groundbreaking new DE&I solutions report produced in
partnership by IMA, the International Federation of Accountants,
or IFAC, and the California society of CPAs. The report, entitled
Diversifying Global Accounting Talent: Actionable Solutions for
Progress is now available on the IMA website. Just follow the
link in the show notes. Here now to discuss the findings and why
this report represents one, if not the largest collective of
DE&I initiatives in the history of global accounting
profession is Jeff Thomson, the president and CEO of IMA, Kevin
Dancey, CEO of IFAC, and Denise LeDuc Froemming, president and
CEO of CalCPA. Let's get started.
 
Jeff: (01:03)
Well, thank you so much, Kevin and Denise for joining this very,
very important podcast. We're all committed to increasing the
relevance and influence of our great profession and talent
pipeline and talent retention, and certainly diversity, equity,
and inclusion is an important part of that equation. I'm very,
very proud and honored to have partnered with both IFAC and Cal
state side of CPAs in this groundbreaking DE&I research our
organizations have collaborated on over the past bunch of months.
I believe that the breadth and depth of topics covered and really
getting close to the issues at hand is arguably unsurpassed by
any other study out there, but it's not a competition, it's about
improving the profession and its its relevance and an age of
disruption and uncertainty. You know, there were some hard
truths, hard data points that came out of the surveys that we did
both in the US and around the world, the Middle East, Africa,
Europe, and Southeast Asia.
 
Jeff: (02:07)
Speaking about inequity, for example, fewer than 60% of the 8,000
sampled believe the profession is equitable or inclusive, that's
a startling number. And so it very much is a call to action to
partner together, to understand how we can create diverse
pipelines, how we can create an incredibly diverse and inclusive
profession because of an overarching perspective that improves
the attractiveness of the profession to all types of individuals
and our relevance and influence going forward is absolutely
paramount. Look, we can't touch on every point in the research
that came up in this particular podcast, but would love to hear
your reactions. For example, to the more than 70 specific
actionable practices recommended in the report. These over 70
actionable practices have been mapped back to the 17 UN
sustainable goals, sustainability goals for 2030, for example,
goals on quality education, gender equality, and reducing
inequality.
 
Jeff: (03:14)
So let's talk about some of the findings and I need to be quiet
and listen and learn. So according to the research, there is
greater diversity across the broader profession than in
leadership positions. In a comparison of female respondents, job
titles, across all regions, to those of male respondents with
similar education levels and experience, it was revealed that
male respondents are holding more senior positions than in
females. And that typically also extends to other diverse groups.
Second, the research points to women and members of other diverse
demographic groups in each region believing there is some level
of inequitable treatment and exclusive behaviors that impacted
career decisions and prompted some actually about 12% to actually
leave our great profession. So starting with Denise as a leader
in our profession, what is your reaction to the findings in this
area of gender and other forms and inequities, inequalities, and
similar challenges you're facing in a very diverse state of
California. Denise?
 
Denise: (04:28)
Well, thank you first. Thank you, Jeff, for having me on the
podcast today really appreciate being here and also thank you for
just, we really appreciate partnering with IFAC and IMA on the
survey. It's very important as you said, and there's a lot of
great actionable items, which I was so happy to see within the
survey, cuz it gives others a pathway to move forward. So that's
important. You know, in regards to gender parity, I think COVID,
we could all probably agree that it didn't really help on the
advancement and the momentum that we had in 2019 on with women
within the workforce. A lot of women left to take care of their
families, no judgment there it's just what happened. It's the
reality. Often I think women and diverse populations are
underutilized within the profession. They aren't provided the
opportunities to stand up and to learn new skills or
competencies.
 
Denise: (05:24)
So I did talk to Dr. Mithu Dey from Howard University. And she
had said too, that there's research out there. And she mostly
looks at the black accountants and their experience, but she said
advancement and retention challenges are really the result of
them not obtaining assignments that help them develop. And they
don't have the social networks a lot of times to provide that
informal career advancement. And I think we could all agree. I
know myself that I've benefited from others helping me to move
ahead, giving me opportunities. And if you don't have that,
that's definitely a gap. And it also provides you with the
thought that maybe you wanna leave the profession because you
don't have the network and you don't feel that sense of belonging
or welcomed environment within maybe the organization that you're
in. And there's a lot of statistics out there that really promote
the fact that there is not equitable treatment all the
time.
 
Denise: (06:24)
So a lot of times we say to see me is to be me. And I think, you
know, Heather has said that at times as well, and it's really
having that awareness and acknowledgement that there is a gap
within the profession and understanding that gap. So you have to
know where you're at to know where you need to go a lot of times.
So it's, it's on the acknowledgement and awareness that the
profession does have a gap. And then also the belief that there
is an untapped resource out there and that will provide the
leadership and the innovation to move the organization forward.
And also having that as a priority within the organization and
the tone at the top, making sure that it is within the fabric of
the organization to have DE&I at the forefront and have
programs that support that. So essentially having it hardwired
within the organization.
 
Jeff: (07:17)
Right. Thank you, Denise so much. And you know, before I turn it
over to Kevin, I think three of us would probably agree very,
very passionately that we've got a great profession. We...