Each firm in the 2026 Accounting MOVE Project has seen professionals cut back hours or change schedules to manage caregiving. Nearly half have seen people slow their path to partnership or turn down leadership roles. Not one has calculated what that is costing them.
In its latest research report, Accounting MOVE Project found that 65% of firms surveyed reported that caregiving has influenced career progression during the past year, with mid-career professionals most often affected. Forty-seven percent have seen employees defer or slow promotion or partnership, and 47% have seen employees decline leadership opportunities. Forty-one percent have experienced resignations related to caregiving.
Yet firms are only beginning to understand the broader business implications. Fifty-nine percent say caregiving has definitely or possibly contributed to turnover during the past two years, and 53% believe it’s affecting their partner and leadership pipelines. None of the firms surveyed has quantified the cost of caregiving-related turnover.
“Accounting firms have spent years talking about the talent shortage, but we may be overlooking what’s happening to experienced people who are already here,” Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk, president of the Accounting MOVE Project, said in a statement on Oct. 22. “Caregiving responsibilities can change how much someone can take on at a particular point in their life without changing what they’re capable of over the course of their career. Firms that can recognize that difference have a better chance of keeping talented people on the path to leadership.”
The annual Accounting MOVE Project report examines the factors that help women advance in public accounting and the workplace practices that can either support or impede that progress. Now in its 17th year, MOVE tracks women’s representation across career levels while examining the policies, practices, and workplace experiences that influence advancement.
Childcare remains a top challenge, but it’s only part of today’s caregiving story. All firms surveyed reported seeing employees manage childcare responsibilities, 76% have seen employees caring for aging adults, and 65% have seen employees simultaneously caring for children and aging family members. Seventy-six percent said caregiving responsibilities fall primarily on women, although men are affected too.
Firms have responded with flexibility. Every firm surveyed offers remote or hybrid work, and 94% offer flexible scheduling. But the findings raise a more complicated question: What happens to someone’s career after they use that flexibility?
“Flexibility can help someone stay employed, but staying isn’t the same as advancing,” Ruszczyk said. “If using flexibility means losing access to important assignments, client relationships, or leadership opportunities, we’ve solved one problem while creating another.”
If firms want to retain experienced talent for the long term, they need career paths that can accommodate periods when the traditional route to leadership doesn’t fit an employee’s circumstances, MOVE says. Yet only 24% of firms have a formal, documented alternative pathway to partnership, while another 47% handle alternative paths informally.
Women are well-represented in the pipeline, but not at the very top
According to the report, women represent 55% of employees at MOVE firms and at least half of professionals at every level from associate through director. However, representation drops at the highest levels, with women accounting for 42% of partners and principals and 41% of management committee members.
The gap is greater for women of color. They represent 35% of women associates but 22% of women managers, 17% of women senior managers, and 11% of women partners and principals. Overall, women of color account for just 5% of all partners and principals at firms surveyed this year.
The findings also suggest a gap between offering advancement programs and measuring their results. Formal mentoring and career coaching are widespread, yet only 18% of firms report leadership pipeline data to executives by gender, and just 24% evaluate the effectiveness of advancement programs by gender or ethnicity.
“Offering mentoring, career coaching, and other programs is one thing. Knowing whether they’re actually helping people advance is another,” Ruszczyk said. “If firms aren’t tracking what happens afterward, they don’t really know whether those efforts are helping people gain influence, build the experiences they need, and reach the next level.”
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