Last week’s UK government announcement of new measures to increase social mobility to enable greater access to the professions was an opportunity to reaffirm the Institute’s commitment to ensure fair access for all, regardless of social or economic background.
As readers of my blog will know I have long been of the opinion that a diverse accountancy profession makes good economic sense. We recognise that access to a broader pool of talent will enable us to recruit the best people enabling us to uphold and even increase the standards of new entrants to the profession. This is true throughout the world and not just in the UK.
With this in mind we have implemented a number of measures to attract people from more diverse backgrounds, ranging from pioneering projects in more disadvantaged communities to support for better careers advice in schools.
Good examples of this include our work with the Personal Finance Education Group to bring financial capability to more deprived areas and our support for the Career Development Organisation to encourage more people to consider the profession.
In addition to creating broader awareness of financial literacy and highlighting accountancy as a profession we have also looked at our own entry routes in order to get to the heart of this issue. The development of the Certificate of Finance, Accountancy and Business (CFAB), which provides a non-graduate entry route into chartered accountancy, is testament to this.
Building on this and through initiatives such as the Gateways to the Professions working groups, it is important that we continue to look at our education, training and recruitment practices to ensure fair access is incorporated into everything we do.