Well, you don't look like an accountant;

              WellYou Don't Look
Like an Accountant
There have always been women working
in accounting but never before in such
numbers. In recent years the influx of women
into this traditionally male field has been
impressive. In 1960 women represented
16.5% of the total number of accountants
according to the U.S. Census Bureau. By 1970
this figure had climbed to 25%. At this
point there are no accurate figures on how
many women are practicing certified
public accountants; even the AICPA does
not have that information.
Universities have been aware of the change,
too. Abraham Gitlow, Dean of the College
of Business and Public Administration of
New York University, reports that in 1960
8.9% of the College's student body were
women. By 1969 this figure had risen to
11.7% and by the spring of 1974 there were
no less than 23% women. Lawrence Lansner,
placement director for Baruch, the business
college of City University of New York,
adds that in his eighteen years of affiliation
with the school there have never been so
many women as are now enrolled. According
to him, women are finding out that
accounting is satisfying and rewarding
work and they are responding.
Haskins & Sells, as of August 1974, had
323 women on its professional staff, including
ten managers and forty-one seniors. This
represents a gain of 147 since October 1970
when there were three managers and eleven
seniors. This year a new statistic has
been added to the roster since H&S named
a woman partner, Judy Wilson Walsh, tax
specialist in the Los Angeles office.
Clearly the numbers are encouraging.
But the more revealing side of the story lies
not in the data but in the careers of the
women themselves. A few short years ago
the major concerns of the Firm in hiring
women were client acceptance, travel and
marriage. The detail of how H&S women
have coped with these concerns shows a
positive step forward. Client resistance has
proved to be less of a problem than originally
anticipated; according to the women it
generally fades in the face of professional
competence. Indeed, at this point clients may
request a woman accountant for the
particular insight she may bring to a
20
situation. Travel problems have been reduced
by the addition of offices and suboffices
outside the major cities.
The final consideration, marriage and
motherhood, has also been dealt with, as is
evidenced by the number of women who
have achieved professional status while
running homes at the same time. The route a
woman chooses will be highly personal — she
may decide to postpone having children or
she may hire a housekeeper to help out.
Whatever the decision, all adhere to the
basic tenet that a career and a family can no
longer be considered mutually exclusive and
that they may even complement one another.
The first question frequently asked of
women, with raised eyebrows and an
inflection of surprise, is: "What made you
decide to become an accountant?" The
implication of this query is that the woman
has somehow presumed upon a man's
prerogative and must have an unusual
reason for doing so. The truth of the matter
is that women share with men the same
reasons for choosing accounting—"I liked
math and numbers'."! was interested in
business'."! was looking for a satisfying
remunerative profession'.' Sound familiar? It
is true that until recently these interests
were often diverted into more typically
feminine roles such as teaching and that
women were justifiably reticent about
seeking careers in public accounting. But
now the field is open and women are taking
their place in it along with their male
counterparts.
Partner Judy Walsh chose accounting
because she was looking for a practical
career. In her junior year at Rice University
in Houston a professor warned her that the
possibilities for a woman were very slim, so
she changed her major to economics—for
two weeks—but quickly decided to switch
back again. When she was a senior, the
same professor who had cautioned her
about her choice, told the recruiters that she
was his most capable student. "There were
problems!' Judy recalls, "and one of the
firms had a national policy against hiring
women at all!' She decided to join Phillips
Sheffield, a local CPA firm, because of her
acquaintance with other Rice alumni on
their staff. When they merged with Haskins
& Sells a year later, Judy's career with the
£f.:. '.**£
Firm began. "I was interested in tax work
from the beginning, although I was
scheduled to begin with audit work. Within
a week of my employment, Ken Studdard,
partner in the Houston office, took me into
the tax department to help out and I stayed
on. I think tax is a good specialty for a
woman. In audit you're running from place
to place, managing a large crew and you
have an independent relationship with the
client. In tax, our position is more that of an
advocate for the client.
T never really felt discriminated against.
In the beginning I didn't go to tax meetings
or even to the seniors' meeting, which didn't
really disturb me. As a matter of fact,
being a woman can sometimes be an
advantage. When I did start to attend
meetings, I was highly visible which can be
beneficial in a large firm'.'Judy maintains
that she has never had any difficulty
working with men. "They may be
nonplussed at first, but if you are fair, give
adequate instruction and are unemotional,
they will be good working partners. For a
time I was the only woman on the staff in
Houston, but you get used to it. Anyway, the
men regard you as a fellow professional'.'
Judy is more interested in her professional
career than in women's liberation rhetoric.
Her course has always been to perform in
her most capable manner and at a top level
of competence. "I am not interested in the
advancement of women per se',' she says. "I
don't believe that equal population
dispersion is the function of business. The
onus now is too often on an employer to hire
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