Equality Is Excellence

International Women's Day, which I celebrate proudly today, is more than a celebration. It is a call to action. Its organizers urge us to #PressforProgress in achieving equality for women.

There are many ways to answer that call: advocacy, speaking out, exercising one's right to assemble peacefully, or, as I will do today, sharing one’s perspective.

My vantage point is the public company auditing profession, which, like many professions, has room for improvement when it comes to gender equality. Still, auditing can offer us many lessons learned about striving for excellence and overcoming challenges. And in my view, the profession has key attributes that are indispensable for progress in women’s equality.

1.     Extraordinary Leaders Who Are Women

The CPA profession has made progress thanks to women who are strong leaders, trailblazers, and role models.

Three of these women, for example, currently serve on the Governing Board of the organization that I lead, the Center for Audit Quality (CAQ): Lynne Doughtie, U.S. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at KPMG LLP; Cathy Engelbert, CEO of Deloitte US; and Mary Schapiro, Vice Chairman Advisory Board at Promontory Financial Group, LLC and former Chair of both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. In July, the CAQ's Governing Board will welcome another extraordinary leader when EY's Kelly Grier becomes that firm's US Chairman and Managing Partner and EY Americas Area Managing Partner.

Like so many others, I have been inspired by these women and am so grateful to have the opportunity to work with them.

2.     Extraordinary Leaders Who are Men

Achieving progress in women's equality doesn't just require strong women—there must also be men who look forward and who grasp how and why diversity, inclusion, and equality are business imperatives.

One such leader is Bob Moritz, Chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited. Bob, a former CAQ Governing Board Chair, has been a champion of gender equality though initiatives such as HeforShe. "Supporting global gender equity makes good business sense because diverse perspectives can create innovative ideas that can drive growth," he has written. Bob's colleague, PwC US Chairman and Senior Partner Tim Ryan, is equally outspoken on the importance of diversity and inclusion. Tim, who also serves on the CAQ's Governing Board, has taken concrete and bold steps towards progress by launching the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion? pledge.

3.     Extraordinary Workplaces

The impact of this leadership can be seen in the workplaces of CPA firms.

Just look at rankings such as Working Mother 100 Best Companies or Fortune 50 Best Workplaces for Parents. Those lists are replete with public accounting firms—not just the largest firms but also profession leaders such as BDO USA, LLP, Crowe Horwath LLP, Grant Thornton LLP, Moss Adams LLP, and RSM US LLP. All are recognized for their innovative programs around mentoring and leadership development, work-life strategies, flex-work arrangements, and more.

4.     Extraordinary Focus on Achieving Excellence

As I mentioned, the CPA profession has room for improvement when it comes to gender equality. The nonprofit Catalyst—whose Board of Directors, incidentally, is chaired by Deloitte's Cathy Engelbert—has compiled statistics on women in accounting. While some of the stats are encouraging, others remind us that our journey towards equality is far from over. Consider, for example, one study's finding that women make up more than half of all full-time staff at CPA firms—yet they are just 24 percent of partners and principals.

There are of course a myriad reasons for the latter disparity. Yet in addressing such complex challenges, the profession has a valuable asset: its exceptional focus on continual improvement. In my 28 years of working, rarely have I seen a profession so devoted to the idea, in the oft-quoted words of Scottish writer Sir Theodore Martin, that "excellence in any art or profession is attained only by hard and persistent work."

For accountants, you see this drive in the various centers for excellence either operated directly by or affiliated with the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA). These include teams devoted to governmental audit quality, employee benefit plan audit quality, plain English accounting, and, of course, public company audit quality.

And given this broad pursuit of excellence, it should come as no surprise that the AICPA is also strongly committed to gender equality and developing women in leadership. The CPA profession has made clear that equality is excellence. We in accounting and auditing now need to keep pressing for progress in the same way that has defined the profession and made it a bedrock foundation for our economy and markets.

As always, I welcome your thoughts in the comments, and I urge you to celebrate women and to take your own action on this International Women's Day. I also invite you to join my CAQ colleagues and me in highlighting and celebrating the pursuit of excellence, in the public company auditing profession and beyond. We will do so all this month using the hashtag #BuildingaBedrock.

A securities lawyer, Cindy Fornelli has served as the Executive Director of the Center for Audit Quality since its establishment in 2007.