Caregiving slows accountants’ paths to partner
- Key insight: Learn how caregiving responsibilities are shifting career trajectories for mid-career accounting professionals.
- What’s at stake: Accounting firms risk losing experienced mid-career professionals from their leadership pipelines.
- Expert quote: “Staying isn’t the same as advancing.” — Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk, Accounting MOVE Project
Nearly half of firms see employees defer or slow promotion or partnership to manage caregiving.
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The 2026 Accounting MOVE Project found that 65% of firms have seen caregiving responsibilities influence career progressions during the past year, with mid-career professionals most affected, and 41% saw resignations related to caregiving.
The Accounting MOVE Project is an annual survey of accounting and financial firms that measures demographic data and workplace culture to help advance women and other underrepresented groups in the profession. This year’s theme was “Caught in the Middle,” examining how caregiving and other responsibilities outside of work affect accountants navigating their careers and impacts the leadership pipeline.
Fifty-nine percent of firms said caregiving has definitely or possibly contributed to turnover over the past few years, and 53% say it is affecting their partner and leadership pipelines.
“Accounting firms have spent years talking about the talent shortage, but we may be overlooking what’s happening to experienced people who are already here,” Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk, president of the Accounting MOVE Project, said in a statement. “Caregiving responsibilities can change how much someone can take on at a particular point in their life without changing what they’re capable of over the course of their career. Firms that can recognize that difference have a better chance of keeping talented people on the path to leadership.”
Three out of four firms said the caregiving responsibility falls primarily on women, though men are affected as well. All firms reported seeing employees manage childcare responsibilities, 76% have seen employees caring for aging family members, and 65% have seen them simultaneously care for children and aging adults. In response, firms have offered flexibility. Every firm surveyed offers remote or hybrid work, and 94% offer flexible scheduling.
“Flexibility can help someone stay employed, but staying isn’t the same as advancing,” Ruszczyk said. “If using flexibility means losing access to important assignments, client relationships or leadership opportunities, we’ve solved one problem while creating another.”
The MOVE report says that in order to retain experienced talent, firms need formalized career paths that can accommodate these life changes. However, only 24% of firms said they have a formal, documented alternative path to partner, and 47% said they handle alternative paths informally.
In terms of representation, women comprise 55% of surveyed firms and at least half of professionals at every level from associate through director. However, that figure drops at the partner and principal level (42%) and for management committee members (41%).
For women of color, the gap is even greater, representing 35% of women associates, 22% of women managers, 17% of women senior managers, and just 11% of women partners and principals. Overall, women of color accounted for only 55% of all partners and principals.
“Offering mentoring, career coaching and other programs is one thing. Knowing whether they’re actually helping people advance is another,” Ruszczyk said. “If firms aren’t tracking what happens afterward, they don’t really know whether those efforts are helping people gain influence, build the experiences they need and reach the next level.”
Introductory bullet points created by AI with editorial review.
