Career advancement of female accountants in accounting professional practice in Nigeria

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the career advancement of female accountants in accounting professional practice in Nigeria. This is justified by the reason that women may not be adequately represented in the accounting profession. The study also adopts a survey research design. Even though the study covers the population of accountants in professional practice in Nigeria, a sample of a hundred (100) qualified and non-qualified accountants including male and female was selected purposively from the big four accounting firms in Lagos State, Nigeria. The big four accounting firms have offices in Lagos State. The research instrument used is the questionnaire. The data collected was analyzed using chi-square. It was discovered that family responsibilities do not affect career advancement of male and female accountants. Also, the findings revealed that gender does not influence the access of accountants to opportunities within the job. Finally, it was deduced that gender influences the choice of continuity of accountants in the professional practice of accounting. From these findings, we recommend that accounting firms should provide female accountants with more flexible work schedules.