Small businesses still unlikely to deal with top female accountants

Date: 19th May 2009

British small businesses are more likely to deal with a male accountant than a female accountant when seeking advice on issues such as corporation tax, the findings of a new study suggest.

Research carried out by the International Accounting Bulletin (IAB) found that a 'glass ceiling' still exists within the accountancy profession, with the upper echelons dominated by men.

However, while the UK still lags behind Australia in terms of general gender equality, British accountancy firms have made the most notable improvements in this regard over the past decade.

Indeed, while women held 35 per cent of accountancy jobs back in 1998, this proportion now stands at 45 per cent, while for the top positions, a similar increase from nine per cent to 20 per cent was found.

Meanwhile, the study also found that small businesses in Japan are the least likely to deal with a senior female accountant when seeking tax advice, with just three per cent of such positions held by women.

These latest findings come after the BBC reported that women managers tend to earn around £13,500 less than their male counterparts.