MOVE translates the business case for advancing women to business results. The unique MOVE methodology has been used to measure and support the advancement of women at the Fortune 500; in the cable television business; the transportation and civil engineering industries; and in the public accounting profession. MOVE can be adapted for any industry.

For example, here’s the Business Case for Women at CPA firms. Our work for Women in Cable Telecommunications resulted in a presentation to the Senate subcommittee writing the Paycheck Fairness Act. That presentation outlined the private employer business case for pay equity – the only voice for private employers invited to present to the subcommittee.

The Accounting MOVE Project has been mentioned in numerous media stories in outlets such as the Wall St. Journal, Forbes, and leading business and trade publications. When Cathy Engelbert was the first woman named to head a Big Four firm, the Wall St. Journal called Joanne Cleaver, president of Wilson-Taylor Associates and designer of the MOVE Project, for MOVE insights about women at CPA firms.

This profile of Star Fischer, which ran in the Nov. 20, 2014 edition of the Wall St. Journal shows how both the culture and programs of Accounting MOVE Project founding sponsor Moss Adams helped propel one woman to partner.

And in November 2014 in this Forbes interview with former FASB chair Leslie Seidman Forbes Nov ‘14 illustrates the importance of having data that supports advocacy for women.

MOVE Projects highlight how employers convert the business case for advancing woment to business results. For instance, in the 2014 MOVE Project report, we explained how MOVE National Sponsor Rothstein Kass captured $6.5 million in new revenue from its Rainmakers Roundtable women’s initiative…and comments from Melissa Hooley, a partner with ACM and chair of the AICPA’s Women’s Initiative committee: PAR_05-14[2]

Insights from our projects inform useful tools for leaders, managers and women, such as the “Six Words That Incite Women to Quit,” as published in the Chicago Tribune’s opinion pages on August 2, 2013. Read it here: Why Women Quit Tribune Aug 2 ’13

Employers are realizing that what happens at work doesn’t stay at work – not in an era of social sharing. Transparency is the new currency of trust, as Joanne Cleaver explained in this February 2014 commentary in Public Accounting Report: PAR_02-14

We believe that the business case for advancing women is made in terms of each industry. That’s why MOVE is the standard for:

Women inSTEM, launching in September 2016, in partnership with INFORUM
Public accounting (2010 – ongoing)
Transportation (2011 – ongoing)
Cable telecommunications (2003 – 2010)

The 2013 MOVE report debuted in May as an executive summary special section in Public Accounting Report. See the special section here: May 2013-Women’s EXTRA copy And read the accompanying feature story here: PAR May 2013

Read about MOVE in Signature March ’13, the magazine for association communication executives. This feature shows how the Accounting MOVE Project is catalyzing substantive change for women in public accounting.

MOVE measures these four factors essential to women’s advancement:

M — Money (pay equity)
O — Opportunities
V — Vital work-life resources
E — Entrepreneurship

Wilson-Taylor’s methodology is rigorous and thorough. It includes both a survey and an interview, to ensure that the data is fact checked and considered in context. A major cable company that participated regularly in the annual study we conducted for Women in Cable Telecommunications calls it the “gold standard for industry surveys – the process that is most demanding and that yields by far the most complete, authoritative and useful results.”

Participating employers provide detailed data about their women and women of color employees for a variety of key positions. In-depth interviews are conducted one-on-one, either in person or via phone, by Wilson-Taylor staff. Want more? Here are the details of our proven methodology.