Women with Finance background have higher chance in corporate board positions

Yesterday, ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) announced Malayan Banking Bhd and Media Prima Bhd as joint overall winners of the ACCA Malaysia Sustainability Reporting Awards (ACCA MaSRA) for 2013.

The award ceremony also recognised other organisations for their efforts in the different categories such as Malayan Banking Bhd and Nestlé (Malaysia) Bhd for reporting on Gender Diversity, an increasingly important issue on attracting and retaining more qualified women in the workforce.

This year's ACCA MaSRA awards encouraged listed companies to disclose in their annual reports, policies such as flexible working arrangements to promote and support women.  Out of the 48 reports received, 16 were shortlisted and two were declared winners for this new sub-category.

According to TalentCorp CEO Johan Mahmood Merican, part of the success in attracting investors, depends on having the right quantity and quality of talent, encompassing gender, age and ethnicity. He believe that promoting gender diversity directly promotes better performance.

Finance: the path for women to achieve board-level positions

Base on a report commissioned by ACCA, companies may be more positively disposed to appointing women to board positions if they have a financial background or financial qualification. Recent board appointments, in the last 18 months, indicate more new appointments going to women.

The report interviewed eight (8) women. Two (2) of the respondents have formal finance qualifications, three (3) had MBAs from leading universities and three (3) women had long careers (15-35 years) in investment banking. More than half (57%) have a functional background in finance. Although the numbers are very small, the trend shows that finance is clearly a successful route to executive directorship.

The report concludes that financial qualification or background helps establish credibility and validates women's suitability for consideration for board appointment, in the view of search consultants. Being conversant in the language of finance also helps to break down the stereotypical image of women as different from men and establishes their ability to converse on the same terms as men.