The Institute of Management Accountants named Gwen van Berne, CFO of the internet registry agency RIPE NCC, as its sixth female chair-elect and the first to reside abroad.
Van Berne is based in the Netherlands and runs the finances of the official regional internet registry for Europe, the Middle East and parts of Central Asia. She will succeed Steve McNally, CFO of Plastic Technologies, as IMA chair next year.
The move comes as the accounting profession tries to increase gender diversity in its ranks. Last month, the IMA released a
“The accounting profession needs to be a trailblazer for a diverse and inclusive workplace,” said van Berne. “The IMA is doing a lot to make sure that we start off the conversation and also that we show in our actions that we really think this is a very serious matter. The study clearly shows a lot of work needs to be done in this area. if you look at the accounting profession, women actually comprise a greater proportion of the profession than men compared to the overall U.S. population, but based upon the workforce statistics, they are underrepresented in the senior roles.”
While many women are studying accounting in college and getting entry-level jobs, they don’t seem to be advancing at the same rate as men. “The accounting pipeline is filled with women, but we don’t see that same pipeline generating the senior roles,” said van Berne. “There we still see a majority of men. That same research study shows that in every 10 senior roles, only two are filled by women. It's very clear that we still have a lot of work to do to make sure that we get more gender equality. We are a firm believer that diversity leads to better results and more objective, unbiased decision-making. It can generate a kaleidoscope of views and insights and different personalities. It’s really important for accounting even more than for other professions. We really need to set the tone.”
The accounting profession is increasingly turning female. In 1983, 38 percent of accounting professionals were women. Fast forward to 2020, and the share of women is 61 percent. “Our profession is apparently becoming more female, but we don't see the same effect on all those levels,” said van Berne. “That’s something we hope to change, but it's not only about gender issues in the research.”
At the same time, ore than 90 percent of the profession’s executive leadership are white. In contrast, only 1 percent of partners at U.S. CPA firms in 2018 were Black, 2 percent were Latino and 4 percent were Asian. In corporate America, only 1.4 percent of CFOs at S&P 500 companies in 2019 were Black, 1.6 percent were Latino and 4.9 percent were Asian.
“It’s not only about the females, but also diversity,” said van Berne. “I really hope that we can go a bit quicker than the last 100 years have shown.” Women only got the vote in the U.S. in 1920, she noted, and in the Netherlands in 1919.
As CFO of RIPE NCC, van Berne is in charge of the finances of one of five regional internet registries in the world. She is also the treasurer of the Delft Chamber Music Festival in the Netherlands. “It was a difficult year for musicians with the pandemic,” she said. “These are really challenging times financially.”
Female leaders face not only the perennial problem of the “glass ceiling,” but also the “sticky workforce,” according to van Berne.
“With the internal barriers that women are facing, they sometimes hold themselves back,” she said. “They should take a bit more risk and negotiate more. The research study shows that a lot of women really feel that sometimes their working environment is not supportive. They experience a hostile work environment, which is not good, and they struggle with stereotyped expectations. If women are looking to move up into senior management roles and they are negotiating and taking risks, sometimes they are seen as being too aggressive or not a good team player. What we expect from women is that they are very sensitive and caretakers, which are all very important qualities and I think every leader should have them too. In my experience, sometimes you need more of the male skills because the CFO is a leader. I can’t always have my caretaker hat on.”
The IMA and CalCPA study found that 73 percent of females feel their leaders demonstrate unfair prejudice or bias against women that negatively affects promotion in the accounting and finance function. “I wish this were different and hopefully in the future it will be,” said van Berne. “This is for sure a conversation that we need to have with the men. That’s also important. You’ll never get there if you’re only going to discuss this with women alone. The inclusive part of it is what creates success in the end.”
