With girls in Pakistan less likely to be enrolled in school, stay in school and to achieve learning outcomes, the possibility of reaching higher education or the top echelons of the business world are slim.

Historically, pursuing the ACA qualification has not been a well-trodden path for women in Pakistan, and the miniscule minority that entered the profession rarely participated actively in the economy. 

But now, thanks to focused efforts to boost female participation in accountancy in Pakistan, the number of female chartered accountants in the country has significantly ramped up, especially since 2016-17. The five-year cumulative intake of female students to pursue the CA pathway increased 147%, from 3,930 in 2017 to 9,712 female students in 2022, according to the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC).

Research in 2020 by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan found women in Pakistan held around 1.8% of the CFO positions. 

Pakistan-based ACA-qualified Bushra Hanif is one of those rare breeds. A seasoned finance professional and outgoing CFO of Ghandhara Automobiles, Hanif has had a seat on the top boards of businesses in Pakistan. In 2022 she gained her ACA qualification, via a qualification pathway from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan.

Not only has Hanif assured her own successful career path, but she also helped improve outcomes for underprivileged women by improving healthcare in Pakistan as CFO of the Lady Dufferin Hospital, a prominent maternity facility. The country has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the region, with one in 89 women dying as a result of pregnancy and childbirth-related complications.

Established at the end of the 19th century, the hospital – a non-profit private medical facility that has evolved into a state-of-the-art medical facility providing obstetric, gynaecological and neonatal paediatric services – is one of the largest maternity facilities in Pakistan. Hanif has led a programme to improve healthcare equity by boosting the ranks of midwives with the introduction of a ‘pay back scheme’ for nurses, who can secure 100% funding from the hospital during their midwifery training.

And under the idea of ‘a healthy mother means a healthy baby’, a holistic approach to improving women’s overall healthcare prevails, through things like regular check-ups, free medicine, nutrition, food supplements and hygiene awareness.

During her tenure, the Lady Dufferin Hospital has seen tremendous growth. Since leading the finance department, Hanif has turned the CFO role from a transactional one into a genuine business partner to the board.

In just one year, she transformed the hospital’s bottom line, including both short- and long-term strategic planning, from loss-making to a profitable one. She is credited with developing the business by improving the occupancy rate from 40% to 80% thanks to the introduction of new business partners including insurance companies, corporate clients, local health care and foreign philanthropists. 

Hanif also helped bolster revenues by investing endowment funds in profitable ventures while balancing the risk, as well as renting underused spaces to the corporate sector.

Meanwhile, the completion and inauguration of a long-overdue new building has improved quality and increased the hospital’s capacity to service patients in a more conducive environment, while securing agreements for more diagnostic tests at subsidised rates in Pakistan, drastically improving the number of tests available from 80 to 400.

Having the ACA qualification certainly helped in the quest to attract and collaborate with foreign and local investors, Hanif believes. “The ACA, a foreign qualification, helped me significantly in collaborations with foreign partners in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, and China, among others. The trust and integrity level increases – the world opens to you when you have a respected qualification like the ACA.”

She continues: “When you are a CFO, you have this authority to directly coordinate with the board of directors. You have greater access and authority to get things implemented on the business side.” 

“Thanks to close business partnering, my team and I have been able to achieve more practical goals, such as increasing the service portfolio and introducing international channels.”

Hanif sings the praises of ICAEW’s approach to ongoing training and development. “ICAEW is doing a wonderful job with its training and education. The training on artificial intelligence and digitalisation, for example, helps members here cope with the latest trends in the modern era of finance,” she says.

Her career success has prompted her to encourage colleagues and other female accountants to pursue the ICAEW qualification, as well as broader educational routes. Just as the International Federation of Accountants has seen a substantial increase in women becoming chartered accountants, Hanif says she is also seeing great change in both the public and the private sector in terms of recruiting women into more senior financial roles.

“In Pakistan, industry dynamics are changing very rapidly. In societies that have faced widespread structural inequalities and systems, women leaders can bring lasting changes. Leaders have the power to transform and women are a critical component in this wheel of transformation. 

“Public and private institutions alike are recognising this and have been working towards empowering women and increasing their participation in Pakistan’s workforce, which is in turn boosting the country’s economy. And that’s the reason I’m not relocating abroad because I’m seeing great incentives for women in businesses here in Pakistan.”