SOUTHFIELD, Mich., July 8, 2013 – Plante Moran, one of the nation’s largest certified public accounting and business advisory firms, was recently named by the Accounting MOVE Project as a 2013 Best Public Accounting Firm for Women. The MOVE project is geared toward retaining women leaders in public accounting and advancing women to partnership.
According to the Accounting MOVE Project, the firms that participated in the benchmarking project were ranked on the range, depth and success of programs and workplace culture proven to remove barriers to women’s success, especially at midlevel and above.
The Accounting MOVE Project highlighted Plante Moran for making sure women never fall off the radar screen, even when they cycle through alternative career paths or make the most of the firm’s nationally respected work-life programs. For more than 25 years, the firm’s PTA (Personal Tightrope Action) Committee has created and facilitated policies and practices to help retain women and working mothers at the firm, encouraging flexible work arrangements and work-life balance.
Also highlighted was Plante Moran’s new Women in Leadership (WIL) program to help accelerate the company’s ability to both attract and retain women leaders. The program’s long-term goal is to have equal presence, impact and influence from men and women at all levels of the firm, including partnership. According to Gordon Krater, managing partner at Plante Moran, the firm understands its need to continue to attract and retain strong performers in order to best serve clients.
“We want to increase our focus on developing staff faster and better and developing competencies that will allow more women to become partners,” said Krater. “Success will be shown by an increase in the percentage of women partners, women in leadership positions and when Plante Moran has a larger representation of women where there aren’t currently women leaders internally. That will not only define success, but serve as a competitive advantage for the firm and our clients.”
Other key findings reported by the Accounting MOVE Project are that midlevel women quietly disconnect from their ambitions for partnership, often relying primarily on peer relationships for career guidance; work-life concerns remain a primary barrier to women’s ambitions to partnership; women senior staff want more insight into career paths; women managers wish women’s initiatives and professional development were more closely integrated with gaining qualifications for partnership; and several critical miscommunications between women and their firm can derail career expectations.
To read the full report, visit the Accounting MOVE Project website here.
ABOUT THE 2013 ACCOUNTING MOVE PROJECT
The Best Firms were among the 37 that participated in the 2013 Accounting MOVE Project. Through the project and its sponsoring associations, the Accounting & Financial Women’s Alliance and the American Woman’s Society of Certified Public Accountants, the profession can consistently measure the status of women and collaborate on proven and promising practices that advance and retain women. The Accounting MOVE Project research partner is Wilson-Taylor Associates, Inc., which has been measuring and supporting the advancement of women since 1998.
ABOUT PLANTE MORAN
Plante Moran is among the nation’s largest accounting, tax and consulting firms and provides a full line of services to organizations in the following industries: manufacturing and distribution, financial institutions, service, health care, private equity, public sector and real estate and construction. Plante Moran has a staff of more than 2,000 professionals in 21 offices throughout Michigan, Ohio, and Illinois with international offices in Shanghai, China; Monterrey, Mexico; and Mumbai, India. Plante Moran has been recognized by a number of organizations, including FORTUNE magazine, as one of the country’s best places to work. For more information, visit plantemoran.com.
