OSCPA joins initiative to fight the wage gap

By Jessica Salerno, OSCPA senior content manager

When Lori Kaiser, CPA, started in accounting and pictured the future professional landscape, she thought one thing would be different.

“The pay gap hasn’t changed that much in the 30 years I’ve been working,” said the owner of Kaiser Consulting, "and I always thought it would be gone by the time I was at this point in my career. And it’s not.”

The frustrating persistence of the wage gap is why The Ohio Society of CPAs has joined The Columbus Commitment: Achieving Pay Equity. The initiative “asks companies and organizations to commit to learn about the gender pay gap; understand how race and other factors create even larger disparities; and take action to build awareness of the unique challenges facing women in the workplace.”

“OSCPA is proud to be an early adopter of the Columbus Commitment,” said OSCPA President and CEO Scott Wiley, CAE. “Achieving pay equity is not something we can afford to ignore. The future of the accounting profession is one that offers equal opportunity to men and women, and we’re happy to do our part to ensure that happens by working to eliminate the wage gap.”

The voluntary, employer-led initiative is a concerted effort to close the gender wage gap in Columbus, with companies such as GBQ, EY and Plante & Moran also signing on.

Women in Columbus earn 78 cents to every dollar earned by a man, and Ohio’s gender pay gap in Ohio is the 14th worst in the nation, according to the National Partnership for Women and Families.

As accounting continues to work toward becoming a profession of the future, the wage gap plays an important role, especially since more than half of accountants are women.

“If you make sure that it’s a profession where people are treated fairly, that’s only going to attract more women,” Kaiser said.

Kaiser said she’s noticed more emphasis on the pay gap in business and in the media in recent years, a trend she hopes is here to stay. Awareness of the issue is what will begin to impact the decisions businesses make every day.

“People are talking about it, people are conscious of it,” she said. “I think that’s good, that will help to make it top of mind, because a lot of these decisions aren’t conscious, but they’re implicit. The implicit happens when you’re not thinking about it, but if people are talking about it you’ll be more conscious and hopefully that will help lessen the pay gap.”

Learn more

Representatives of the Columbus Women’s Commission will be among the speakers in June when The Ohio Society of CPAs hosts its inaugural Women, Wealth & Wellness Conference.

Learn valuable techniques to navigate the path to work-life integration, recognize the power of growing a network, develop your personal brand and more!

Women, Wealth & Wellness Conference
June 27 | Columbus