Sharron Gunn discusses her first year as chair of Access Accountancy

In August 2023, ICAEW COO Sharron Gunn became chair of Access Accountancy (AA). A year on, she reflects on the role AA can play, the importance of social mobility and the need for more firms to get involved in Access Accountancy. 
 

Q. Looking back at your first year as chair, what is the power of Access Accountancy for you? 

The power of Access Accountancy is twofold. Firstly, it highlights inclusiveness and what a great career accountancy can be, no matter your background.

And it’s also there to support firms and organisations ensure that they have a diverse workforce and to help them in achieving that.

Q.  What do you hope to achieve while at the helm of Access Accountancy? 

I’d like us to articulate and better demonstrate how Access Accountancy can help. We want to ensure social mobility isn’t just seen as a tick box exercise; demonstrate AA’s support for young people; widen its reach; work with more professional bodies; and sign-up more firms who offer work experience and will actively participate.

Q. You qualified as a chartered accountant in 1989. How has your background informed your own career choices? 

I don’t have a privileged background – I’m a kid off a council estate.

Accountancy would have been completely out of reach for me as a career. My parents didn’t want me to work in a factory, they wanted me to work in an office, either as a PA or in administration.

I had no idea what accountancy was, but luckily, I had a mentor – my friend’s father – who persuaded me that accountancy would be a good career for me. I followed that advice and for me, education and accountancy has been life changing.

Q. What role can Access Accountancy play in bringing greater social mobility to the accountancy profession?

I think the hardest thing is knowing the profession even exists.

Having work experience of any description is the one thing I look for in a person; someone who shows they have a work ethic, whatever their background. It could be life-changing for them to have the chance to work in an accountancy office, over the summer, for a couple of weeks.

Q. Looking at the profession more widely, what more needs to be done to expand social mobility? 

When you speak to firms, it feels as if we probably have very good social mobility within the profession, but we do need to continue to gather the evidence and statistics to support that argument.

Q. What advice would you offer to anyone who wants to find out more about becoming a chartered accountant?

My advice is to get some good qualifications and do the things that you’re good at.

That doesn’t need to be accountancy but if you go to university do a subject that you’re passionate about.

And get some work experience, which to me is everything.

Q.  What are the tips you’d give to a young person about to start their placement?

I think you must be open-minded and be a bit like a sponge. Don’t go in with preconceived ideas but see whether you think it might be for you. While it might not be, you might change your career many times over.

None of us really knows what we’re going to do or where our real skill sets lie when we’re in our teens.

So just absorb the experience and be open-minded and try and learn something from it, whether it’s for you or not, because over time you will change.

If you do end up doing the ACA, there are so many things you can do with it. It opens so many avenues, and it never shuts off, and that’s what’s amazing about it. Education is life changing.

I’m a very visual learner and I learn from doing the work.

So, for me, working as an accountant and doing the studying, that was probably my best period academically. I don’t think it’s ever too late – in life, you never stop learning.

Q. What are your plans for Access Accountancy in the next year and beyond?

A lot of our firms are passionate about what we do, but we need to persuade more signatories to join us. Articulating the benefits that a diverse workforce brings to firms is key, and we want to stress that being part of Access Accountancy is more than a tick-box exercise.

Collecting data can be seen as hard work, so Access Accountancy is going to start collecting data from our signatory firms and embed this into our processes, which will take time and will remove a barrier to entry.

ICAEW will fund entry into Access Accountancy for member firms for the 2025 financial year, ensuring we become more inclusive. And we will also set up a group aimed at professional bodies, gather the data, and promote Access Accountancy widely.

I’m excited about the future of Access Accountancy. I hope our work inspires both young people and firms to find out more.

If your firm would like to become an AA signatory, please get in touch.