The Position of Saudi Female Accountants in The Workplace: The … · 2018-04-12 · Lubna is the CEO of Olayan Financing Company that proved the fact of the equal abilities of men

The Position of Saudi Female Accountants in The Workplace:

The Banking Sector

Written by Arwa Abdullah Al-Sultan

422610000

Supervised by Prof. Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Homayed

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Contents Subjects: Page Abstract

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Introduction

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Literature Review

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Methodology

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Female accountants in the USA

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The Effect of Technology on the Accounting Profession

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Women's Situation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

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The Available Job Opportunities for Female Accountants in Saudi Arabia

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Examining the "Accounting" Students' Reasons Behind Studying Accounting and Their Expectations Related to Job Opportunities

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(1) The first Part: 18 A- The reasons behind studying accounting

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B- The students beliefs related to jobs' availability

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C- Other reasons behind studying accounting

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(2) The second part: 21 A- The students' preferences related to jobs

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B- Factors affecting jobs' choosing

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C- Limitations faced by the students when choosing workplaces

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D- The preferred facilities by students in jobs that they may handle

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E- Working Hours

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F- The Experience

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Examining the Current Position of Female Accountants Working in the Banking Sector

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A- The required accounting degrees foe working at banks

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B- The nature of jobs held by female accountants

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C- The experience

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D- Sex mixture in the banking sector

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E- Are men hired more frequently than women in the accounting departments

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F- Training courses

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G- The possibility of handling senior positions by female accountants

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H- Salaries

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I- Job turnovers by female accountants

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K- Vacations and working hours

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L- The accounting certificate

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M-The time spent by waiting for jobs

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N- Finally

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Finding Solutions for the Existing Problem of the Scarce of Female accountants Jobs

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The Conclusion

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References

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Appendix 37

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The Abstract: This research paper seeks the hiding factors behind the scarce of female accountants' jobs in Saudi Arabia. At the beginning, brief overviews were provided on female accountants' position in both USA and Saudi Arabia, on the emergence of technology in the US accounting profession, and on the job opportunities available for female accountants in Saudi Arabia. Also, the results of an experiment done on some female accounting students, and on some employment managers and female accounting certificates' holders working in the banking sector were mentioned. Finally, these results are analyzed and suggestions are mentioned. The introduction: Nowadays, finding a job is starting to be a difficult task in the Saudi society, a society that is consisting of a large number of well-educated citizens and fewer job opportunities. This is clear in most of the fields and professions in Saudi Arabia. One of the fields that are really facing the scarce of jobs after students' graduation from the university is the accounting field. Although the difficulty of studying accounting, the accounting departments in the Saudi Universities have been increasingly desirable. The number of students registering in and graduating from these departments is highly increasing by both male and female students. Many reasons are hiding behind this increase including the accounting subject substance it self. But the main reason may be as in all fields, looking forward entering the profession later after graduating. Although the job opportunities for male students after graduating seem to be quite available and diversified, they are very limited and difficult to be caught by female students. The conflict between the number of students graduating yearly and those employed after graduation creates a scarce in the female accountants jobs and raise many important questions concerning this issue. This conflict, in addition to the limitations facing women in Saudi Arabia, makes the future of female accountants harder. This problem is not a local but an international one. Other countries, such as the USA, Canada, and the European countries were also facing difficulties in hiring female accountants in the early 90s. Nowadays, this difficulty is diminishing by female accountants proves of their ability to work as well good as male accountants. Even with the slow increasing number of Saudi female accountants in the profession, limitations still exist. These limitations are mostly related to some religious issues and women's nature issues that include family issues health issues, and social issues. Also, Saudi women's priorities always include their families. This make the possibility to work for long times daily difficult to be accepted. In addition to

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that, as in all the world's countries, salaries may play a big role in the process of seeking jobs. Nowadays, a number of facilities are provided for working women in order to help them handle their jobs. These facilities are related to working hours, schedules, promotions, vacations, using computers from homes, family-related issue, and more. Actually, some of the Saudi women are demanding ones. They always look for facilities, vacations, good salaries, and top positions. This may create a difficulty in the process of seeking jobs. On the other hands, some are accepting jobs that provide the least levels of facilities. Generally, although demanded or not, facilities are provided for women working in most of the Saudi workplaces. Also, many Saudi women refuse to work side by side men. This legal separation of the sexes mandates an entire separate production line, separate entrances and other facilities. Therefore, the opportunities of finding jobs related to accounting with complete sex segregation seem to be rare. With all limitations related to banks' jobs, they are still one of the most desired places to work in for female accountants. Nowadays, banks have a certain number of positions to women. They have several branches specialized only for women. However, female accountants' right places shouldn't be there. They should be employed in the accounting departments that are currently requiring different degrees of sex mixture. This paper discusses the increasing number of the graduating students from the accounting departments and the hardness of the current women's position in the workplace. Because female accountants can work in different places, and in order to be more specific, this paper is concentrated on the banking sector as a workplace. In order to reach the related possible solutions to the existing problem, this paper will help to find out the answers of the following questions:

- Where can female accountants find their jobs? - Are those employed female accountants in the right place? - What kinds of tasks are given to them? Are they specific? Do they

have the authority to make decisions? - Does the work given to them comply with what they studied? - What is the reason behind the increasing number of female accounting

students? - Does the reason behind this increase refer to the fact that the students

don't know about the difficulties that they may face in the future after graduating?

- Can the students' optimism of having some job opportunities in the future be a good motive toward choosing accounting?

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- Is the accounting subject interesting enough to encourage females to choose it? Is it an enough reason to ignore the downfall in the future of female accountants?

- What are the reasons or forces behind the scarce of accountants' jobs?

- Can the university be charged for the scarce as a result of accepting the increasing number of registering students each year?

- Is the demand for having female accountants increasing with the increasing number females entering business?

- When ladies branches of institutes (banks) are available, do female accountants have the priorities of employment?

- Does training after or before graduating gives female accountants the priority or equality of male accountants in the workplace (banks)?

- What ideas can be accepted in order to give the women its chance to prove themselves in the accounting field?

As mentioned earlier, the banking sector is the only working place supposed to be examined in this paper in conjunction with the examination of the reasons behind the increase in the number of the accounting students in order to find out the previous questions' answers. The Literature Review: Locally, the need of more opportunities for women accountants to have has been mentioned and discussed briefly in some articles and interviews published by the Saudi newspapers. An article written by Abdulla Al-Shmasy in Al-Riyadh newspaper (Thursday 1, June 2000 No. 11655 Year 37) shows that the training before graduation may give better opportunities to find jobs. This is equally for both male and female students.

Also, an interview had been made by Nawal Al –Rashed with two accounting teachers and published in Al –Riyadh newspaper (Monday, 15 May 2000 No. 11648 Year 37). This interview shows the increasing No. of registering students in the accounting departments, the scarce of jobs for female accountants, the importance of having ladies' accounting and auditing offices, and the strength of the accounting courses tough to the female students.

In addition, many articles were written by different writers having different nationalities and in different journals about the difficulties faced by Saudi women generally when joining the workplace and their success when given the chance to hold high positions. For example, Maha Akeel in her article "Correcting Misconceptions About Womens' Role in Saudi Society", 23 Oct. 2003, mentioned the success achieved by the Saudi women in many professions and jobs including managing firms. She mentioned Lubna Al-Olayan as an example. Lubna is the CEO of Olayan Financing Company that proved the fact of the equal abilities of men and women. Maha mentioned also what Saudi women have achieved in various fields, correcting some misconceptions about women's rights in the Kingdom and explaining how women are involved in Saudi Arabia's economic development.

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Another example of articles written about the Saudi women situation in the Saudi workplace is Peyman P. " Saudi Arabia: Scial, Plitcal Rights Bigger than Religion- Women, 30 March 2004. In this article, the Saudi workplace society was criticized in not giving women their full rights including those related to their jobs. Later, Peyman mentioned the issue of the Saudi women education that shows that they are as better as those western women, but without any good chances to work. Many articles are actually criticizing the Saudi society for the limited role of women in its workplace. This is very regular to be faced by a country that put its Islamic issues in the top of its priorities. But the fact is that women are nowadays gaining more positions in many of the Saudi professional fields and are contributing to the development of the Saudi economy. The issue of scarce in the female accountants' jobs has been discussed frequently all over the world. This is because the balance between men and women in the professional fields is still an existing problem. Therefore, many steps have been made by firms in order to encourage females to hold good jobs and to benefit from their ability to work to cover the shortage of accountants. As a result of the importance of this issue, many articles have been written about women in the accounting profession. I found allot of articles and researches from different accounting journals. All of these articles agree on the importance of women in the accounting field and the success that women CPAs gained when they are given trust and chances. The articles also show the increasing number of female accountants, nowadays, in comparison to male accountants. For example, this was mentioned in Gene K., (1997), "ACCOUNTING'S BIG GENDER SWITCH: More women – but still on low rungs", Business week, Jan. 20, 1997. The author mentioned the increasing number of female accountants in comparison to men. This seems clear by the percentages that she included in the article. These percentages show that today, women account for 55% of bachelor's degrees in the accounting subject and 77% of associate's degrees. Indeed, slightly more than half of U.S. accountants are now females compared with about 25% of doctors and lawyers.

Then, the author concentrated on a previous study made by Patricia M. Flynn, John D. Leeth, and Elliott S. Levy of Bentley College in Waltham in order to show how women affect accounting. The study assesses woman's likely roles in the accounting future. According to that study, a trend toward diversification and specialization of services by accounting firms is affecting hiring practices in ways that favor men. Such factors as high female turnover rates, the small number of female partners, and the large number of women paraprofessionals all suggest that women are likely to wind up at the lower end of the accounting profession ladder. But the authors also noted that many accounting firms reacted by beginning to implement diversity training and to offer flextime, family-leave, and child-care options to retain female workers. They say that such steps hold out the possibility that accounting could still become a gender integrated profession with women participating fully at all levels of responsibility and pay.

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The same points were mentioned in another article: Melissa K., (2003), "Gender Bias Still a Workplace Concern for Women", Accounting Today, September 2003. In this article the writer discusses some says by the members of the American Society of Women Accountants (ASWA) and the American Business Women's Association (ABWA). He chose says that concentrated on gender bias. According to different says in different events, although the advancement of women during the past 20 years, gender bias still exists. This is clear in the difference in the payment between men and women. This situation may be a result of the challenges that women face including the sexual harassment and stereotyping.

Also, issues related to accounting for women and men in national statistics were discussed in a conference, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), October 2002, Geneva. This conference contained different European National Statistical Offices and international organizations and emphasized men versus women issues. During the conference, different National Statistical Offices presented some studies and results related to women issues. For example, The Spanish National Statistical office presented the results of its recent survey that shows that although women and men are increasingly sharing household and care work within the family, women tend to work considerably longer hours than men when both paid and unpaid work is taken into account.

A paper that was presented by the Italian National Statistical office showed that both the rate of women entrepreneurial activities and the percentage of companies owned by women are increasing. This makes women equally accessing to economic opportunities and financial independence compared to men in Italy. In Poland, women often undertook professional work supported by family benefits and public child-care. According to a paper presented by Ms. Grazyna Marciniak, from the Polish National Statistical Office, women in Poland generally have more education than men but receive on average 18% less wages than men and 50% of women older than 15 years old are economically inactive.

At the end of the conference, some recommendations were presented that called for the collection of more social statistics. These recommendations included the continuous production of economic statistics. This would reflect the general realities of men and women.

From reading the article written about the conference, it seems clear that women CPAs' issues are also given a great deal of time in Europe in addition to America and Canada. The article presents some facts related to women's positions in comparison to men's. I believe that the difference in payments between them for men and for women will disappear in the future with more efforts by women CPAs' them selves to prove their efficiency and ability to give time for work.

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The shortage of women in the senior level positions in the accounting profession was also discussed: Laura G., (2000), "Women on the move", INSIGHT, Feb/March 2000. Laura started her article mentioning that too often; women are gaining more job opportunities in the USA. Firms attribute the shortage of women in senior-level positions to a general lack of women in the profession. Some times, firms say, women may leave before they have the chance to reach senior levels, therefore hindering their own chances of advancement. Mostly the reason for their departure was rarely to stay at home with the kids.

Then, Laura pointed out three important examples in order to show the way and possibility of increasing female accountants in the workplace. These examples included first Deloitte & Tuche. This CPA firm realized the importance of female partners or employees and did allot to enhance their existence in the company together with makes. It developed programs to enhance work relationships between men and women. This necessitated the use of progress benchmarks and the introduction of a firm-wide system for implementation and accountability. Also, it adopted an education process that involved teaching managers how to work with those all important flexible work arrangements.

Although Deloitte & Tuche and other companies implemented flexible programs, a research conducted by the AICPA found that, although 71 percent of firms reported offering flexible work options to employees following the birth of a child, only a small portion of firms offered long term alternative career arrangements. Just 20 percent in 1997 allowed this flexibility for professionals who were not partners, and only 6 percent offered it to those who were partners.

The second example mentioned by Laura is Linda Riley Mitchell the president of finance services at the $3 billion Tribune Co. Mitchell, who leads a team of 160 accountants for 40 Tribune businesses, has been the first woman or the first African –American woman to fill a particular position. Mria Prado was a founding partner of Prado & Renteria CPAs in Chicago, shares this pioneering sentiment. Despite the fact that she heads the largest Hispanic-owned public accounting firm in Illinois, she still struggles to overcome the occasional stereotyping about women in the industry.

The last example is Judy Aburmishan. When the Chicago accounting firm hired Aburmishan in 1985, she was only the second female accountant ever to work there. As a CPA since 1974, she soon asked about the chances of promotion. Later, she asked about partnership opportunities several more times before the firm finally gave her the promotion in 1992.

By having a look on the examples provided in this article, it seems clear that women succeeded in the past and can succeed today not only in the USA but also in any other country, including KSA, In KSA, I believe that we may be surprised by the results if women are given the ability to work and prove them selves in the accounting field.

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One survey that concentrated on related issues is Park M., Survey that Shows Women Accountants Continue Advancement to Management Ranks, the Financial Executives International (FEI), 21 Mar 2004. The survey was conducted by and independent research firm and includes responses from 1,400 CFOs from a stratified random sample of U.S. companies with more than 20 employees.

CFOs were asked, "Has the number of women accountants who hold management-level positions in your company increased or decreased in the past five years?"

Most of them, about 49%, indicated no change in the number of women accountants in management level positions. A smaller percentage (28%) of answers indicated that the number increased slightly. About 15% of answers indicated a significant increase in the number of female accountants in management level positions. Very small percentages indicated decreasing numbers.

CFOs were also asked, "Do you believe the number of women accountants who hold management-level positions in your company will increase or decrease in the next five years?"

Most of them, about 45%, indicated that the number of women accountants in management level positions will increase somewhat. A smaller percentage (33%) of answers indicated no change in the number. About 33% of answers indicated a significant increase in the number of women accountants in management level positions. Very small percentages indicated decreasing numbers.

The writer pointed out that there is a growing number of female accountants that are being named to chief financial officer positions and achieving partner status at large public accounting firms. Also, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants shows that women now earn more than half of all undergraduate degrees in accounting.

Therefore, we should benefit from the results shown in the article and push ourselves toward the accounting profession ladder.

Some of the main articles were written by different writers about the results of the surveys approved by the AICPA work/life and women's initiatives executive committee. The committee has three different issues of the results; these were the 1994, 1997 and 2000 issues.

One of these articles is written by Mary S. Doucet, (1999), "TOWARD AN EQUAL FUTURE", Journal of Accountancy, June 1999. The writer pointed out that when the Women and Family Issues executive committee of AICPA issued its first survey results in 1993, many firms thought they had done all that was possible to attract and retain women CPAs, but it was necessary to rethink what all CPAs, not just women, want in a career. Since that time, the

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shortage of CPAs has created a free agent market for skilled professionals, which can only provide opportunities for experienced women CPAs.

In order to encourage women CPAs, the firms boasted of family-friendly policies, flexible work arrangements, allowing people of work from their homes and cars and many other locations, and empowering workers. These policies seem to have helped keep women in the profession. As a result, the turnover rate was virtually the same for men and women at all levels according to 1993 survey.

Although women compose about a third of the senior manager ranks, they made up generally less than a quarter of the promotions to partner in 1993. This may be a result of some troubles that are still remaining for them. In 1997 survey results, men were outnumbering women in the top ranks of CPA firms. The disparity is not as great as it was in 1993. For all the top categories reported-partner, principal, director and senior manager – the ratio of women to men shows an increase in the percentage of women. The 1997 survey also shows that the percentage of new mothers returning to the was the same in 1993 and 1997, but more in 1997 returned to work on part-time schedules.

The second article was written by Nancy R. Baldiga and Mary S. Doucet, (2001), "Having It All: How a Shift Toward Balance Affected CPAs and Firms", Journal of Accountancy, May 2001. The writers discussed the effect of the shift toward gender balance of CPAs and firms, by pointing out some results of the 2000 issue of the AICPA work/life and women's initiatives executive committee. According to the survey, women CPAs continue to advance at a slow rate within firms and are outnumbered by men in all areas of firms' managements. Women represented approximately 40% of the full-time professionals at firms responding to the 2000 survey. There were more women than in the past, at the partner, principal, director and staff levels and about the same number at the senior manager, manager and senior level.

Despite the improvement in the percentages of women in higher positions, most of them worked at the staff, senior/supervisor and manager levels. With women representing more than half of the graduating accounting students, entry-level staff positions showed gender balance.

The writers also mentioned that a number of firms implemented such policies to retain young mothers following the birth of a child. They offer more flexible work options to allow professional staff to balance their professional and personal lives. As more men and women sought balance in their lives, firms began to offer an increased variety of flexible work arrangements, including flex-time, part-time hours and work-at-home options. The percentage of staff since 1997 using or planning to use flexible work arrangements increased to 47% from 39%.

Despite the expansion and acceptance of flexible work options and improvements in technology, many professionals said there was always more work to be done, additional client deadlines to meet, and never enough time for a personal life.

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They said that new technologies, changes in professional certifications and educational requirements, and increased client demands are just a few of the developments likely to make it more difficult to attract and retain talented professionals seeking both career and personals satisfaction. Methodology: This research is an empirical one. It depends mainly on the results of some questionnaires that are distributed among some accounting departments' students and some employment managers and female accountants working in the Saudi banking sector. Books and articles provided very limited helpful information. The results of the questionnaires and their related percentages seem to be more representative in the case of discussing the problem of the scarce of female accountants' jobs than the descriptive information. At the end of this paper, the results mentioned earlier will be analyzed and solutions and suggestions for the existing problems are provided. Female accountants in the USA: Having a look on the situation of female accountants in the USA doesn't mean that it is the only country facing difficulties in finding jobs for female accountants, but it shows us how the difficulties are found in one of the most developed countries were female issues are always one of it priorities. Anyone examining U.S. labor markets in recent decades must be impressed by the influx of women into traditionally male fields. While the medical and legal professions are often cited as examples, the gender shift in accounting is even more pronounced. Nowadays, for example, slightly more than half of U.S. accountants are now females. Accounting firms are now following the trend toward diversification and specialization of services. This is affecting the accounting firms' hiring policies in a way that give much more opportunities for women to participate in the profession. In another words, women are gaining strong footholds in the profession. In addition to that, changes within the accounting work environment have made a career in accountancy more appealing to women. According to the most recent statistics available, women represented 42 percent of full-time professionals at public accounting firms. But, says the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), only 16 percent of partners were female. However, women are having less senior-level positions. Firms attribute this shortage of women in senior-level positions to a general lack of women in the profession or as a result of the fact that women leave before they have the chance to reach senior levels, therefore hindering their own chances of advancement.

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Some factors have effects on women's' positions in the accounting profession ladder. These factors include the high turnover rates, the small number of female partners, and the large number of women paraprofessionals. The higher the increase in those factors, the more difficulties women will face in gaining better positions. Also, such considerations as long hours and inflexible schedules, cause many qualified women to switch to other full-time jobs. In the USA, a number of firms originally may have implemented such policies to retain young mothers following the birth of a child. In order to keep female accountants in their workplace, U.S CPA firms are now offering alternative working arrangements, leadership development programs, and have programs geared towards working mothers. This is in addition to offering flexible schedules, a shortened work week, flex time, family-leave, child-care and the possibility of working at home for part of the week to retain female workers. Of course these are not all offered equally by each firm, but firms choose what appears to be suitable to their policies in order to allow professionals to balance their professional and personal lives. Although 71 percent of firms reported offering flexible work options to employees following the birth of a child, only a small portion of firms offered long-term alternative career arrangements. Just 20 percent of firms allowed this flexibility for professionals who were not partners, and only 6 percent offered it to those who were partners. By retaining their female accountants, firms will enhance their reputations. To do so, most of them are now empowering workers, trying to advance women, and becoming the most family-friendly places to work. This will help firms in competing for a scarce supply of experienced and valuable professionals. The similarities between the two societies, the Saudi and the American, seem to be generally few in their number. All the above paragraphs written show that if Saudi women fight for their positions in the accounting profession and if the employing firms offer facilities needed to encourage and retain female accountants, the Saudi female accountants will reach more better top positions and gain more places in the accounting workplace as what the Americans did. The effect of technology on the accounting profession: Recently, changes in the profession, including the expanding role of technology, have presented new challenges and opportunities for public accounting professionals including females in the USA. Technology changed the way people do their jobs. For example, U.S CPAs had an extremely favorable view of technology. In a study executed in 2001, the US accounting professionals overwhelmingly agreed that technology improved client service (96%) and helped them to be more productive (96%). More than half of male and female respondents agreed that technology had improved the quality and quantity of their personal time. Despite the expansion and acceptance of flexible work options and improvements in

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technology, many professionals said there was always more work to be done, additional client deadlines to meet, and never enough time for a personal life. CPA firms in the USA that use work-from-home arrangements with eligible staff say that there are clear operational benefits from using such arrangements: They save money because there’s less absenteeism, they increase production, and they are able to keep high-quality employees longer. Also, Situations that otherwise might take a CPA out of the workforce (such as a broken leg or a new baby) sometimes can be worked around by telecommuting. With it, an enterprise can continue its work unaffected by highway or rail disruption, weather disasters or civil disturbances, and staff can keep going on a project through holidays and long weekends if necessary. In addition, doing the job from home is attractive for many reasons including the fact that a quiet home office has fewer distractions. Although the basic telecommunicating tools are familiar (a computer, appropriate software, a desk in a quiet area, a printer, fax machine, scanner, designated connections and a phone), Security is a concern anytime computers are used especially for remote computers. Most managers are expected to fear losing control and to have concerns about how to keep track of what an accountant actually accomplishes off-site. To defeat such anxieties, the company should start first with having a clear worker-eligibility policy, performance standards, and a well-planned program. Therefore, a firm needs to take extra measures with remote computers. Antivirus software, passwords, user IDs and software firewalls are important to keeping data safe. Wide area networks should have many extra protections than small ones. Also, Home systems can be connected to the central office with a suitable software, which “sees” the work in progress on all linked computers. By doing so, managers will be more comfortable with telecommunicating. One of the leading CPA firms in the USA, for example, is Deloitte & Touche that has won awards for workplace sensitivity to women’s issues. The company permits staff members to telecommute only after they’ve been with the firm at least two years and have gotten outstanding performance reviews. Many other companies are providing such arrangements in addition to the company mentioned earlier. In the future, the situation may differ allot in the USA. Much more companies are expected to implement such technological strategies to benefit from them. This trend may be followed in all well-developed countries followed by others and not exclusively in the USA. Women's Situation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Briefly: In a society where women constitute the majority of the population and account for more university graduates than men, women entered the work force only 20 to 30 years ago. Although this seems late, it can be counted for

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as a good step toward building integrated society members. However, the problem faced now is that the laws that were suitable at that time are not suitable today. When the government saw how the numbers of businesswomen and female professionals had increased, it started interacting with them to develop its policies that guide them and manage their related issues. What should be mentioned is that many government and business leaders admit that women in this country are better educated and more motivated than men. If Saudi Arabia is serious about opening up its markets and become more competitive in the world, it should take a more serious look at allowing women enter the workforce. In contrast to what is thought by westerns about not allowing women to work in Saudi Arabia, Saudi women are not prohibited to work at all, but their opportunities to find their suitable jobs are limited. This is the result of the fact that they cannot work in the governmental offices as much as men or hold important official jobs except in few fields (such as the educational field). For the moment a good percentage of educated women work outside the home, mostly in medicine and education. Although the main priority for every Saudi woman is still to raise her children, she chooses to work if she has the time, but it is not an obligation. In addition to that, employers no longer expect their employees to put their work before their family. This supports every Saudi woman planning to work. I believe that Saudi women aren't too hopeful about their chances of making it to the top. But like their male counterparts, many women crave greater opportunity. However, it’s no secret that the climb to success for many women in the finance industry in Saudi Arabia is starting to attract attention. In talking specifically about females in the accounting field it is important to mention that the most suitable sector for female accountants is the private sector, in addition to the educational field. Actually, more women are joining the accounting profession recently because they've seen the many career possibilities that can spring from it, as well as its many rewards. What should be mentioned is that when hired in a private office, Saudi female accountants are usually put in a separate room from men in order to confirm with the religious and social laws. To avoid the limitations of the preferred sexual segregation and the veiling of women, using technology may help allot. For example, there was interaction in some occupations and that was by using modern technology. As a result it was easy to communicate without face-to-face meetings. Whenever technology is used, women will gain more job opportunities and facilities compared with the current available ones. Female accountants may benefit from technology in any way that may surprise the whole society.

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The important question that may be asked directly when talking about the future of female accountants in Saudi Arabia is: Where can they work? Available job opportunities for female accountants in Saudi Arabia: In the Saudi society, a girl graduating from the accounting department in any university knows that she is going to face some limitations when deciding where to work. These limitations may be related to many issues including the few number of places to work in, the facilities provided by employers, and some other religious and social issues. When talking about the female accountants' workplaces, the word "banks" will immediately cross to the listener's mind. Are the banks the only available places that have vacancies? Of course, they are not. Banks are one, but not the only one, of a few numbers of the places where female accountants may find jobs. Some examples of working places where female accountants may find jobs are: 1- Banks, 2- Charity institutions, 3- Private companies, 4- Few governmental offices such as in the Ministry of Labor that has a

separated department managed by women including accountants, 5- Hospitals, 6- Universities, or 7- Schools. These may not be the only available places, but they are the most available ones. The important question to be asked here is: Are female accountants going to work as "Accountants" in any of these places? Because work places available for female accountants are limited to some degree, female accountants are now seeking for all kinds of jobs, even if they have nothing to do with accounting. Some female accountants in Saudi Arabia reached high positions by handling jobs other than accounting jobs. The most desired field chosen by many accountants is banking. Banks hire larger numbers of female accountants than any other sector but not in their accounting departments. This is accepted by many female accountants because they believe that they may not find any better opportunity later. Women charity institutions are few in their number in Saudi Arabia. These institutions usually hire female accountants to work in their accounting departments. Although this seems a good chance for female accountants, these institutions are few and are hiring only few numbers of accountants. In the private sector, especially in private companies, the opportunities of finding jobs seem to be more difficult than in other places. The numbers of companies that have women separate departments including accounting

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departments are very small. Two examples of companies that may provide job chances for female accountants are The Kingdom and The Al-Olayan Financing companies. There may be more companies other than these two companies, but usually, they don't offer as good chances as the two companies do. Women in Saudi Arabia are also working in the governmental offices, but in a very small percentage compared with men. The need for female accountants seems to be rare in the governmental ministries. This does not mean that there is no ministry that hires female accountants, but few of them do but in limited numbers. For example, the Ministry of Labor has a women department that need female accountants but in small numbers. Female accountants may also be employed in the hospitals. The problem here is that hospitals working hours are long and that there is almost a complete sex mixture on the working places. Therefore, many find it very difficult to work in such environments. Educationally, female accountants may work as accounting professors or as assistant professors. This is the dream of many accounting students but the barriers related to there certificates' averages play a big role in the acceptance of them. Also, educational jobs are limited because the accounting departments are almost settled with its professors and assistant professors at the moment. In the future, the need for female accountants educationally will increase as a result of the increasing number of the accounting students. This will present more vacant for those holding accounting certificates with qualified averages. Those female accountants that cannot find jobs and prefer to work in the educational field can work in schools teaching mathematics or computer courses or other subjects. Although this seems unfair, many believe that it is better than staying at home and waiting for jobs. In addition, vacations and working hours in the educational field are suitable for most of the Saudi women. These, of course, are not the only available working places for female accountants but they are the most offering jobs. Nowadays, female accountants are allowed to get the CPA certificate in Saudi Arabia. This may be a sign of the possibility of allowing them to work as CPAs in the future. Being a women CPA is a dream for most, if not all, of the female accountants. The demand for them is now highly increasing with the increasing number of business women in the Saudi economy. A women CPA may work as good as men CPAs if they are given the chances to do so.

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Examining the "Accounting" students' reasons behind studying accounting and their expectations related to job opportunities:

In order to know the reasons behind the yearly increasing number of female accounting students graduating from and registering in the accounting departments in Saudi Arabia, a questionnaire was distributed among a number of the accounting students in King Saudi University. The number of questionnaires distributed was a hundred but unfortunately, only 69 of them were returned back and responded on. The sample contained female accounting students in different levels and the questionnaires weren't distributed among them equally. The questionnaire was divided implicitly into two parts: [1] The first part seeks the reasons behind choosing accounting and the expectations regarding the availability of job opportunities later after graduating. A- The reasons behind studying accounting: One of the questions included in the questionnaire was asked in order to find out the attractiveness of the accounting department to students studying in other departments. A quite high percentage of the sample pointed out that 37.7% of the students included in the sample are studying accounting after having an experiment in other departments. In fact, these departments vary. They included different departments in the collage of Administrative Sciences (Economy, Business Administration, or Public Administration), in the collage of sciences, in the collage of literature, in the collage of Education, in the collage of Sharia'a , and the English department in the Collage of Art.

FIGURE 1 When asked about the reasons behind leaving other departments and joining the accounting department, most of the transferred students answered that the "Accounting" is an interesting subject and they felt that its certificate provides better job opportunities than those of the other departments. Also, students that started studying accounting since their registration in the university were asked some specific questions to know if they really desired studying accounting when deciding to study in the university. The highest

62.30%

37.70%

studentsstudyingaccountingafter theirexperimints

studentsstudyingaccountingsinceregistring in

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percentages pointed out that "accounting" was chosen as a result of the following reasons:

A- The desire of the students to know the details of "accounting", B- The forced registration by the university as a result of the unqualified

percentage on the secondary school certificate to enter the preferred department,

C- The encouragement by a person who had already studied accounting. D- The belief that accounting guarantees jobs in the future.

Only a small percentage (5.8%) showed that accounting may give better job opportunities in the future. The related percentages may be clearer by having a look on chart 1.

Chart 1 B- The students' beliefs related to jobs' availability: All the students including those who chose accounting to guarantee jobs and who had different reasons pushing them toward accounting were asked about their beliefs in the availability of female accountants' jobs after graduating. The results show that 62.3% of them believe that there aren't any good job opportunities for female accountants were as only 37.7% of them believe in the availability of jobs. According to the previous percentages, any one may ask about the reasons that made those who believe in the scarce of jobs to choose accounting. Most of these students mentioned that the main reason was their optimism. These optimistic students counted out for almost 44% of those who really desired studying accounting. I believe that they built their beliefs on the fact that the scarce of female jobs will diminish in the soon future as a result of many existing economical conditions including the increasing number of businesswomen in the Saudi economy followed up with their increasing demand for female accountants in order to have easier communications.

0%5%

10%15%20%25%30%35%40%

the desire to studyaccounting

the forcedregistiration

the encourangementby someone

looking for j obs the best v ailablechoice

the reason behindstuduing accounting

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About 24% of these students chose accounting, ignoring the scarce of its jobs, because they do have their own dreams in having their own businesses managed by themselves. In this case, they need accounting actually to benefit from it personally and commercially and not to guarantee jobs in the future. Also, about 16% of the asked students believed that although the female accountants' jobs seem to be scarce, they are still better than jobs in other fields. Only small percentages pointed out that the students believe in that having the Master's degree in accounting will guarantee jobs in the future. Have a look on chart 2.

Chart 2 C- Other reasons behind studying accounting: To figure out more reasons behind studying accounting in the case of having unavailable job opportunities, other questions were asked. For example, students were asked if they like accounting and if they find it interesting enough to be involved with. Slightly more than half of the sample (about 55.8%) gave positive answers indicating that they really like accounting. But these students are not all agreeing on the fact that liking this subject is a good motive to ignore the difficulties that can be faced when finding jobs later. About half of them do, but the rest don't. Also, the students were asked about the goals they wanted to reach by studying accounting. Two main goals were agreed upon: First, studying accounting mainly to enter the workforce and to guarantee a key that opens the closed jobs' doors (55%). Second, having the "accounting" certificate, that has its prestige, in their hands (30%). The rest of the sample answered the question presenting different goals such as knowing the details of a new knowledge, planning to start private projects and using accounting generally in the life.

44%

16.00%

24.00%

8.00% 8.00%

0%5%

10%15%20%25%30%35%40%45%

optimisim accounting j obs aremore av ailable than

others

managing priv atebusiness

getting the Master'sddegree guarantee

j obs

accounitng help increation

the reason behindstuduing accounting

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The percentages referred to in the previous paragraphs showed the increasing desirability of the accounting department explained by the reasons behind that increase. As mentioned above, these reasons vary among students but give us a good overview about the trend toward studying accounting. After knowing the reasons behind studying accounting including the reason of hoping to find jobs in the future, it is worth it to know their expectations and preferences in the jobs they wish to handle in the future. This will help in figuring out one side of the reasons behind the scarce of jobs' opportunities. [2] The second part of the questionnaire was related to the students' preferences and expectations related to the jobs that they believe they can handle in the future. A- The students' preferences related to jobs: First, they were asked to choose the best two preferences of the places they would like to work in after graduating. They were given different places in order to choose among them. These places included:

A- The academic field, B- Governmental offices, C- Private companies, D- CPA firms, E- Charity institutions, F- Any place even if its jobs are not related to accounting, and G- Hospitals

As the first choice, most of the students chose working in the private companies as accountants. In the second order, working in governmental offices was chosen. This was followed by the alternative of working in the CPA firms. Working in the academic field, in the women charitable associations, in hospitals, and in any other jobs even if not related directly to accounting was not very wished for by many students; they have the smallest percentages. As the second preference of work places, private companies is still the most preferred flowed by the CPA firms, governmental offices, hospitals, academic fields, women charitable associations, then any job even if not related to accounting. To have a look on the percentages of the first two choices, see chart 3.

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Chart 3 B- Factors affecting jobs' choosing: When asked about the factors that affected their choices, the students gave different answers: - About 68% of them agreed that the most important factor is the nature of the job that fit to their priorities that are mostly related to the sex mixture during the workday. - Only 13% of the students mentioned that the salary paid to them is the most important factor. The results show also that almost 9% of the students think that the chosen preferred working place (mostly: private sector, government offices, and CPA firms) has more job opportunities available than the others. - The rest of the students had different reasons behind their choices such as the belief that working in the chosen workplace is directly related to the accounting material studied in the university, the belief that working in the chosen place gives more opportunities for creation (as in the case of the private sector), and the belief that the place chosen will offer some kind of career settlement (as in the case of the government offices). C- Limitations faced by the students when choosing workplaces: Some of the girls chose their preferred workplaces as a result of the limitations they may face in other places. These limitations were mainly concentrated on some religious issues and working hours' issues. For example, having some kind of sex mixture in the workplace was one of the most appearing limitations for about 30% of the students. In the second order, the number of working hours appeared as a limitation (23%); whereas the prohibition of working in some specific institutions (such as banks) by the Islamic laws is having the third order (16%). The previous three limitations mentioned above are not the only ones but the students mentioned more limitations. Some students mentioned that their choice depended on the fact of prohibiting some jobs by the students' responsible persons (2.8%). Others said that the salary (11.6%) and the length of vacations (5.8%) are definitive factors to them. These are still not all

9% 9%

19% 17%

52%

29%

9%

20%

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6%

6%

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a b c d e f g

1st preference2nd preference

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of the limitations that female accountants may face in the future, but much more one affecting them but may not stem into our minds. D- The preferred facilities by students in jobs they may handle: Later in the questionnaire, the students were asked about several points related to the facilities given to them during their jobs. For example, a question that was asked was related to there acceptance of a job that has no special features or facilities put for women in order to help them handle their jobs. The results indicate that 41% of them said they are going to accept the job. This percentage was exceeded by the percentage of those refusing to handle any job that doesn't have those facilities (59%). One another question was related to the attractiveness of the jobs that require more than 8 hours of work daily. Although 37.7% of the students chose the "Yes" answer that indicates the acceptance of this kind of jobs, most of them (62.3%) chose the "No" answer. Vacations also seem to be an important factor that affects the attractiveness of jobs. For example, 32% of the students prefer to have a 60-days vacation yearly whereas 30% prefer having 45 days, and 29% accept to have 30 days yearly as a vacation. Only small percentages were related to those who are demanding more than 60 days yearly (3 months or more). In addition, the students were asked to choose the facilities that they feel satisfied when available among several ones proposed in the questionnaire. Among the factors given, the facts related to the number of work hours had the largest percentage of choices (almost 17%). This factor was followed by having at least 30 days of vacation yearly (almost 16%), having mothers vacations after child's births (almost 14.5%), working in jobs that are handled in a sex segregated atmosphere (14.5%), having the chance to work at home by using computers (10%), then having fees specialized for worked hours that exceed the official 8 hours (13%) and having babies nurseries related to and near their mothers' offices (13%). See chart 4 for more details.

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Chart 4 E- Working hours: Of the students accepting jobs that require more than 8 hours of work daily, 50% mentioned that they will accept working for 10 hours daily as the maximum number of working hours. What was surprising is that 11.5% of them have no ceiling for working hours and have the ability to work as much as they can if their work is comfortable and interesting enough. Also, 11.5% mentioned that they can work for 12 separated hours but only if they were singles. In addition, 19% mentioned that their maximum ceiling of working hours is 9 hours. The remaining 8% indicates that some students can work until 18 hours daily, which may not be practical. F- The Experience: Finally, the students were asked about their willingness to work in a job temporarily without having a salary in order to gain experience. 81% of them chose the positive answers whereas only 19% chose the negative ones. Also, they were asked if they would like to have field training before graduating in order to be more qualified and to gain more experience. As expected, most of them answered positively (about 91%) whereas only a small percentage (9%) answered negatively. Finding out the reasons behind the conflict between the number of students graduating yearly and those employed require more information provided from workplaces. In order to do so, the following part of this paper will examine the banking sector as a workplace of female accountants.

17% 17.00%

19.00%

14.50%

10.00%

13% 13%

1%

0%2%4%6%8%

10%12%14%16%18%20%

not morethan 8 hours

daily

vacationsafter child

birth

30-days yearlyvacation

sexsegregation

usingcomputersfrom home

babies'nursuries

next to theoffice

paid for extrahours worked

equalitybetween menand women

salaries

the reason behindstuduing accounting

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Examining the current position of female accountants working in the banking sector:

In order to know the situation of female accountants in workforce of Saudi Arabia, some questionnaires were distributed among a number of employment managers and female accountants employed in the banks' sector. Banks are targets for some accounting students and are providing more job chances than other sectors. Therefore, I believe that seeking information from the banks environment would be very beneficial and may be representative to some degree. The bank employment managers were asked several questions related to the situation of there female accountants and the facilities provided to them. From the 20 questionnaires distributed, 14 were answered and received. Although this number seems to be small, it may give a good overview on policies followed in most of the Saudi banks. To be more specific, I would like to name the banks where the questionnaires were sent. These banks include: the Saudi French Bank, Riyadh Bank, Al-Ahli Bank, Al-Jazirah Bank, SAMBA Bank, the Saudi British Bank, the Investment Bank, and the branch of the Emirates Bank that is located in Riyadh. Unfortunately, the Investment bank replayed that they have no female branches or female employees at the moment but the idea is on its way to be implemented. In order to figure out more details and facts related to jobs that can be handled by accounting certificates' holders and the current situation of female accountants, distributing questionnaire was also very helpful. To have more concentrated information related to jobs of female accountants in the banking sector, 60 questionnaires were distributed among those holding accounting certificates and working in any kind of jobs in banks. Unfortunately, 42 of the total distributed questionnaires were received. But, as in the case of the employment managers, this may be good enough when the number of banks included is taken into consideration. A- The required accounting degrees for working at banks: Banks prefer to employ the bachelor's degree holders. About 57% of employment managers from different banks indicated that. On the other hand, Master's degree holders were favored for around 29% of them. Diploma's holders are the least preferred as bank accountants. The results show that they are preferred for only 13% of the employment managers. In fact, the previous preferences have a small role in the employment process. Employment managers said that although higher degrees' holders seem to be more attractive than others, they may not be attractive as much as those having quite good experiences. The issue here is related to some degree to the quality of work expected from and time spent by those having the needed experience in contrast to those don't.

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The percentages resulting from the questionnaires distributed to the female employees are supporting most of the results of the previous ones distributed to the employment managers'. As an example, 81% of the employees were holding an accounting bachelor's degrees where as the rest of them were holding different accounting degrees. To have a better view of the degrees held by those employed as accountants or those holding accounting degrees but handling jobs other than accounting related jobs, see the following figure.

Most of those employees included in the sample have accounting certificates except 26% of them. Other than accounting studies included computer sciences, economy, and business administration studies. These were held by those employees that are not working as accountants but working in related-to-accounting jobs. B-The nature of jobs held by female accountants: Although 57% of the employment managers mentioned their need for more accountants in their banks, females are usually holding jobs that are not directly related to accounting. All of the banks are accepting to employ female accountants in other than accounting departments' jobs, where as the opposite is, of course, not accepted. A question may come to someone's mind when hearing the fact that female accountants may not work as accountants in banks: What positions and kinds of works can they handle? It is important here to mention that "Accounting" graduating students should not expect to be employed in banks as "Accountants" because this requires a number of priorities including a degree of experience. Most jobs handled by accounting degrees' female holders are either not related or not related directly to accounting except for few of them. Also, at the beginning they may be given the chance to handle some easy tasks, that don't need experience, as trainees. After proving their abilities, trainees will be upgraded to higher positions.

81%

11%

4%4%

Bachlor's degreeMaster's degreeMaster's degreedeploma's degree

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In the case that she has enough accounting experience, a female accountant is going to be given the chance to work as an accountant in the bank's accounting department. However, most of them are given other banking tasks to do, such as:

-Leading a group after her training on the nature of the groups' tasks needed, -Preparing different financial reports presented either to the management or to the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, -Supporting the process of controlling the banks financial position, -Helping in the process of gathering the needed information to prepare the bank's financial statements, or -Controlling the expenses of the management and all different bank's departments.

These are not the only tasks that an experienced female accountant can handle, but they are the most popular ones. Some examples of those jobs that are usually available for female accountants are:

1- Customer services jobs, 2- Money exchanging jobs, 3- Social issues' related jobs, 4- Marketing and sales jobs, 5- Administration jobs, 6- Women department's managers jobs, 7- Salaries departments' jobs, 8- Supervision on Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency circular, 9- Treasury department jobs, and 10- Financial management jobs.

Fortunately, 59% of those included in the sample are handling accounting-related jobs (including those requiring mathematical steps), whereas 30% of them are handling purely accounting jobs. On the other hand, only 15% of them are holding jobs that are not related at all to accounting. There is no specific standard used to decide whether a job is related to accounting, but the employees indicated that by them selves. Some examples of the tasks done in jobs that are not related at all to accounting are:

- Entering the data into the computer information systems. - Reviewing the data entered into the computer data base and assuring

its conformity to those written manually in their related records. - Supervising and controlling electronic customer services. - Supervising the unit responsible for gathering complaints. - Managing tasks related to departments other than the accounting

department. - Working on and preparing the computer information systems. - Doing secretary related tasks.

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About 71.5% of the employees agreed upon the possibility of handling their jobs by other persons that don't have any accounting certificate, where as 28.5% of them indicated that this is impossible because their jobs require accounting skills. The nature of work required from these employees differs among different positions. For example, half of these employees are working without decision making. On the other hand, the other half are given the authority to make decisions. These decisions are related mostly to some managerial issues, to executive issues, and to some investment issues. C- The experience: Experience seems to be the most definitive factor that affects the process of both the employment and the promotion of banks employees. This is clear enough from both the employees and the employment managers' answers. Female accountants that have no experience at all can handle different kinds of jobs other than accounting. For example, they can do any banking tasks including money exchanging, auditing financial process, customer services, marketing and sales, and any other tasks that fit with her abilities and nature as a woman. After having a reasonable degree of experience, they can handle some accounting positions as accountants, supervisors of accountants, internal auditors, financial analysts, companies financing supervisors, or any other jobs in the accounting department. D- Sex mixture in the banking sector: When talking about finding jobs for females in banks (whether accountants or others), the first thing that step to the mind of the listener is the sex mixture in its environment. This is true to some degree only. Nowadays, banks in Saudi Arabia are following the trend of having women departments related to some of their branches. This may give better opportunities for female accountants. However, the problem here is that there are some limitations on these opportunities. For example, the accounting departments in all banks are placed in the main branches of the banks as departments following the banks' administrations, but 50% of the employment managers prefer to let women, even if accountants, to work in the women departments and not in the accounting departments. The other half indicated that men and women have the same opportunities to be employed in the accounting departments and their sex will be completely ignored when deciding who deserves the job. Because the accounting department is located in the main branch of the bank, it requires men to work in conjunction with women. This does not mean that there is no sex segregation at all in the accounting departments. Female accountants are usually given private offices and are not sharing males' offices. This gives some of the privacy that may encourage women to accept the condition.

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Some of those employees included in the sample but are not working as accountants, chose not to work in the accounting department because of its sex mixture atmosphere. The reasons behind this decision include: A- The refusal of their responsible persons, some religious prohibitions, B- Some religious issues, C- The fact that the Saudi society looks at them in a disdained perspective,

and D- The bothering actions that they may face from interacting with men.

Chart 5 About 45% of those employees included in the sample are working in sex-mixture atmospheres. Almost all of these employees have no constraints or problems related to this kind of environment. They say that it is not an enough reason to loose a job opportunity. E- Are men hired more frequently than women in the accounting departments? Some managers prefer to have male other than female accountants in the accounting departments. They answered the questions related to the reasons behind this preference differently. Unfortunately, 41% of them indicated that the main reason behind the preferences of male accountants other than female ones is their experiences. In Saudi Arabia, men mostly have more experience than women. This may relate to many reasons including their chances to work in many places as trainees or as employees whereas women have much less chances. Also, others (about 29%) indicated that the limitations related to women's' health issues make them less attractive. Only 29% of them indicated the difficulty in communicating with women, under the conditions of sex separation and women veiling, as the main differentiating reason. F- Training courses: In order to provide the needed experiences to women working in banks, all banks are now offering training courses to them in different ways. For example, Al-Riyadh Bank and SAMBA Bank offer them as mandatory courses. On the other hands, the Saudi French bank and the Emirates Bank offer them optionally.

21%

35%41%

3%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

a b c d

the reasonbehindavoiding sexmixtureenvironments

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Training courses are provided to most of the banks' employees, but in different manners. For example, some positions require training periodically, where as some need these courses once at the beginning of handling the jobs. On the other hand, some tasks and jobs don't require training courses in a certain manner, but courses will be provided randomly when needed. Employees always look for promotions. Therefore, they are always trying to do there best and join more training courses to develop their skills. Some of these employees believe that the best way to guarantee promotions is to get higher degree (in accounting for example). Regarding the field training before the accounting department female students are graduating, all of employment managers and employees agreed upon the fact that field training before graduating for female accountants will provide them with an enough experience that makes them more attractive to be given accounting tasks. This affects the position that they may hold and the salaries paid to them. G- The possibility of handling senior positions by female accountants: When asked about the possibility of handling senior positions and supervising males by females in banks, only 20% of the employment managers answered negatively whereas 80% of them answered positively. Although the good surprising answers above, accounting females are still not holding any senior positions in the accounting departments. Actually, all of the banks' accounting departments are managed now by male accountants and there is no single women holding such a position. H- Salaries: When asked about the salaries paid to women compared to men in each bank, all of the employment managers in all banks mentioned that salaries are always given to employees with the ignorance of their sex and according to the same bank policy. This means that salaries differ among different educational degrees, positions, experiences and jobs' natures. The only one that mentioned the difference in salaries given to men and women is the employment manager of the Emirates Bank. The logic behind this policy is that woman may work some times for less hours and go through different health problems that make them less productive than men. Therefore, only in these two cases, salaries will differ. Otherwise, there won't be any difference. All of the female employees included in this sample seem to be satisfied by the salaries paid to them. They said that they are paid in the same manner males are paid and they find the appreciation of their managers by the promotions given to them differently. Actually, salaries given to them currently range from 2500 Riyals to 13500 Riyals. They differ mainly among employees depending on the number of years worked, positions, tasks done by them, experiences, training courses, and degrees held by them. Those employees that had previous experiments by holding other jobs before the current ones seem also satisfied by their current salaries. This can by

31

easily clarified by comparing the ranges of salaries paid for the old jobs (ranging from 2000 to 9000 SR) with those paid for the current ones. I- Job turnovers by female accountants: Like many employees in all fields and sectors, the questioned employees were representing a percentage of turnovers among two jobs as maximum. Although they mostly didn't handle more than one job before the current ones, 57% of the questioned employees indicated that they already shifted from previous jobs before handling the current ones. The reasons behind seeking better jobs for 40% of those employees were mostly related to the fact that they were not satisfied by their salaries. They felt that they should find better jobs that provide them with better incomes confirming to there type of certificates. When studying accounting, most of the students face difficulties and feel that they may be overstepped by having high salaries' jobs in the future. On the other hands, income wasn't always the motive behind leaving women employees to their jobs. For example, about 22% of those employees were handling some jobs that are not related at all to accounting. Some of them were teaching in schools, working as a secretary, or handling some management tasks rather that working as accountants. Therefore, they left their jobs seeking accounting ones. The previous two reasons are not the only motives that push women toward leaving a certain job, but there are more. For example, 39% of those employees indicated that their main reason was feeling uncomfortable by handling such jobs. This reason includes implicitly different reasons. One of these reasons is the degree of sex mixture in the working environment. Also, many women were forced to leave their jobs as a result of their family-related and health related issues. Unfortunately, those were not included in the examined sample. K- Vacations and working hours: Banks are providing necessary facilities for their female employees. These facilities include the permission of having vacations related to several conditions in addition to those official vacations. For example, women employees are given the chance to have their vacations in the conditions of marriage, maternity, child birth, and nursing. These vacations are in addition to the 30-days yearly vacation provided to all employees. All employees are working 8 hours daily in all banks. Women are not given the chance to choose between full-time schedules and part-time schedules. However, the Saudi British Bank's employment managers mentioned the possibility of choosing the suitable work hours. This can be done by choosing to work between two shifts or deciding to have a number of hours to be worked daily.

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One of the main facilities that can be provided for women is giving her the permission to work from home, by using computers perhaps. This is not to be done in a complete working day manner, but in the cases that prevent women from reaching offices. A question related to that was asked to the banks employment managers but unfortunately, about 72% of them answered negatively. No bank has the willingness to involve the difficulties resulting from applying such a policy neither for men nor women. L- The accounting certificate: As what was asked to accounting students, employees included in this sample were asked about some issues related to studying accounting. Most of them, almost (90%), indicated that they are very proud and pleased to have the accounting certificate. This may be an implicit indicator that they are satisfied and contented in their current jobs at least to some degree. Only few of them said that studying accounting requires better job opportunities than those available and the difficulty of these studies should be offset at least by handling jobs that are related in some degree to accounting. M- The time spent by waiting for jobs: After graduating, every one seeking a job should wait for some time to win it. The good news here are that finding a job in banks seem to be a little bit easier than in other sectors. The time waited by graduating students seeking jobs in banks range from a month to three years. Six months is the time waited by 31% of those employees included in the sample, whereas only 9.5% of them waited for three years. N- Finally: Although women employed in banks are not directly communicating with their male supervisors, all related difficulties are overstepped by using telephones, faxing machines, computers, and other communications ways. Supervisors agreed that women are always doing their tasks perfectly and as good as men and that physical boundaries have no effects on their performances. Other sectors may be better or worse than the banking sector in when comparing the availability of job opportunities and the nature of jobs handled by female accountants. However, the basic beliefs of both the accounting employees and the accounting students and the limitations they face are the main indicators that direct them when seeking jobs. Finding solutions for the existing problem of the scarce of female accountants' jobs: As was mentioned earlier in this paper, the problem of the scarce in the female accountants' jobs may be referred to the increasing number of accounting students and the limited number of the offered jobs. By having a look on the results provided previously from the questionnaire distributed among the female accounting students, the fact of the increasing numbers of the yearly graduating accounting students seems to be clear to some degree.

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If most of them believe in not having enough job opportunities available now, why does the number of the yearly registering students increase? In fact, the results show that most of the students believe that the current situation will change in the soon future. Also, some of them have the intent to start their own businesses after graduating without trying to find jobs. A small percentage, as mentioned before, indicates that students believe that job opportunities in the accounting field are much better than the others'. To solve the side of the scarce problem that is related to the number of accounting students, nothing can be done. It is unfair to prevent someone from studying a subject because of the fear from the future. But some steps may help. Although universities are not responsible for the increasing number of the accounting students, they should inform students with the difficulties that they may face in the future when looking for jobs. Also, one of the most important steps toward solving such a problem is providing field training for them before graduating from the university. Field training will be helpful for female accountants because it provides them with the lowest level of experience required to handle a job. Therefore, providing this kind of training before graduating will be a step toward decreasing the limitations that students may face in the future on job opportunities. The other side of the problem can be solved by giving women the chance to work more freely in the accounting profession than they do currently. For example, Female accountants should be given the authority to work as accounting consultants and CPAs and to own their own accounting and auditing firms in order to provide more chances for them. Women have the ability to work as well as men. Therefore, giving them the permission to join the CPA firms or to own theirs will provide some solutions to the scarce of jobs problem. For example, this permission will increase the demand on accountants in the profession that will lead at the end to the increasing demand for female accountants. Also, CPA firms may need to have some female employees to handle the accounting processes for other businesswomen. This makes communication, conversation, and case presenting much more easily than interacting with men. The issue of scarce of female accountants' jobs may result from the fact that Saudi women are conservative in their religious and social issues. This makes jobs' choices limited. Most of Saudi women are seeking jobs with sex segregation environments. Although some of them are not demanding such environments, women are given separate offices even if working in the same departments where men do.

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To avoid such limitations, banks and other working places should provide female accounting departments or at least female accounting jobs that are completely separated from men offices. Saudi firms should benefit from technological experiments of other countries including the USA. One of the main arrangements that help women decrease their turnover rates and encourage them to work without time limits is working from home. This may be practical if implemented legally in the KSA because this will give women the ability to be CPAs from their homes and manage their work perfectly. This way may constitute problems but I believe that these problems may be small in comparison to the benefits resulting. This may give women more chances to work as accountants rather than finding a job that does not relate directly to accounting. Technology helps people to work from their homes, cars, and many other locations. Enabling people to telecommunicate helps in reducing the turnover rates among women. This may make the accounting profession more attractive to women in the future. An important question to be asked here is: What prevents firms in Saudi Arabia from benefiting from the highly developing technology as other countries are doing? Private companies are the most desired workplaces by female accountants. With the limited capacity of the few available companies, they don't carry a heavy weight of the large number of female accountants looking for jobs. Private companies should be encouraged to have female departments, including accounting departments, in order to contribute in the process of decreasing the numbers of unemployed female accountants. Salaries paid to female accountants should be guaranteed to equal male accountants' salaries in the case that their jobs require the same tasks and responsibilities. Nothing explains the difference between salaries paid for men and women. This problem almost does not exist in the banking sector, but it may exist in others. Because women always have many responsibilities concerning the family related issues, women may not be able sometimes to carry full-time schedules. Therefore, they should be given the flexibility in their schedules and the possibility to choose between full-time and part-time schedules. This helps them to balance their lives between their occupational and personal duties. As was mentioned earlier, women aren't given the chance to choose among different schedules mostly. They all have to work in full-time schedules. Also, firms should be more flexible by distributing the work needed among more workers if current employees want careers but not excessive hours. Even if job opportunities are increasing and the facilities demanded by women are provided, the number of accounting students will keep on

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increasing. In addition, many students always blame firms and universities for the problem of scarce in jobs while they are ignoring their contribution to it. Difficulties are not always faced by female accountants, but they also may be created by them. Female accountants seem to be very highly demanding persons. Therefore, nothing can guarantee that a job will fit to someone's preferences when available. Conclusion: Gender bias is still one of the biggest issues women face in the workplace all over the world. Even if women made up 50% of the new annual entrants to the accounting field, it would take many years before they were equally represented in the top. Nowadays, firms have become more flexible and have empowered employees to manage the way they mesh their careers and personal lives. Therefore, women are responsible to some degree for their current situation in the Saudi workplace. Although the banking sector is one of the sectors that are employing large numbers of female accountants in Saudi Arabia, it is not enough to be examined alone. To have a complete over view on female accountants' situation in the Saudi workplace, all other sectors where female accountants can find their jobs must be examined and in different regions of the country. At that time, the position of female accountants in Saudi Arabia will be clearly determined and the proposed solutions will be more beneficial.

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References: (1) Gene K., (1997), "ACCOUNTING'S BIG GENDER SWITCH: More women

– but still on low rungs", Business week, Jan. 20, 1997. (2) Melissa K., (2003), "Gender Bias Still a Workplace Concern for Women",

Accounting Today, September 2003. (3) Laura G., (2000), "Women on the move", INSIGHT, Feb/March 2000. (4) Park M., Survey that Shows Women Accountants Continue Advancement

to Management Ranks, the Financial Executives International (FEI), 21 Mar 2004.

(5) Mary S. Doucet, (1999), "TOWARD AN EQUAL FUTURE", Journal of Accountancy, June 1999.

(6) Nancy R. Baldiga and Mary S. Doucet, (2001), "Having It All: How a Shift Toward Balance Affected CPAs and Firms", Journal of Accountancy, May 2001.

(7) Carolyn T. , "Women are Walking Tall in IPO City" , INSIGHT, June 2001. Web references: (1) http://www.insight-mag.com/insight/01/06/feat-3-pt-1-steppingout.htm (2) http://www.womenof.com/News/cn092799.asp (3) http://www.careerinsider.ca/dyn/modules.php?name=Sections&op=viewarticle&artid=10 (4) www.aicpa.org/pubs/jofa/jun1999/women .htm (5) http://www.aicpa.org/pubs/jofa/may2001/news_sr.htm (6) http://www.pwi.be/downloads/november_03.pdf (7) www.sptimes.com/2002/webspecials02/saudiarabia/day4/story1.shtml (8) http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=23096 (9) http://www.saudi-american-forum.org/Newsletters/SAF_Item_Of_Interest_2003_10_25.htm (10) http://course1.winona.edu/aelafandi/polsci270/SaudiArabia.htm (11) http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/6741701.htm?1c (12) http://www.saudicities.com/people1.htm

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Appendix