Women crunch book-keeping numbers

NEW DELHI: A Bindi-toting bean counter? No that's not something we just dreamt of. Lady number-crunchers are not only making their presence felt in banks and financial institutions, they are also increasingly opting for chartered accountancy as a career option.

According to data from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the percentage of women chartered accountants has more than doubled from 5.2% in April 1995 to 13.1% in April ’06.
Women CAs say the profession, with its flexibility to work part-time and from home, allows them to juggle work and family much better than a nine-to-five job.

Top women CAs say that's part of the reason why women are flocking to this profession. Also, for someone with a commerce background, it's one of the obvious options. Says Bhavna Doshi, senior adviser, KPMG, “The profession is easier to continue with family and kids.

Women can work part-time when they get married or have kids. They can also work from home. Increasingly, more and more girls are opting for commerce after which there are two options — doing an MBA or going in for chartered accountancy. The latter is a comparatively easier option,” she explains.

Interestingly, the trend of women CAs is a product of the liberalisation. The number of women CAs was stagnant till 1990. In the 1980-89 period, ICAI had less than 2,000 women members. It was in 1990s more women started opting for this career. There are over 6,500 women registered with ICAI between 1990-99.

The period ’00-06 has already seen 9,667 women enrol as ICAI members. As of April this year, ICAI has about 17,116 women members and over 1 lakh male CAs on its rolls.