This email in 30 seconds: The new ACCA report, Neurodiversity in Accountancy: Navigating Your Career, is out now. I co-authored it with Jamie Lyon FCCA. This week I’m sharing the part of the report I wrote that organisations most need to read: the chapter on systemic change. Because individual resilience only gets you so far when the system itself is the barrier.
Hello Reader,
The new ACCA report is live.
I was asked to co-author the new Neurodiversity in Accountancy: Navigating Your Career report with Jamie Lyon, and I’m genuinely proud of it. There are real stories in there, practical strategies for individuals, but the chapter I couldn't not write is the one on on systemic organisational change.
From years of working inside organisations and from my own experience navigating a career with ADHD: individual coping strategies only take you so far when the system is working against you. You cannot self-help your way out of a management culture that makes disclosure feel professionally risky. You cannot out-resilient a recruitment process that was never designed to show what you can actually do.
That is not a personal failing. That is a design problem.
The message that came through clearly from the research
The interviews that underpinned the report were stark on this point. When organisations invest in systemic change, the benefits extend far beyond neurodivergent employees. Clarity in communication, flexibility in working approaches, strength-based team design: these improve outcomes for everyone. But without them, neurodivergent professionals carry a disproportionate weight.
The report identifies seven areas where organisational action makes the real difference.
1. Manager capability is the single biggest lever
Unsurprisingly, manager quality is one of the most influential factors in whether a neurodivergent professional thrives or struggles at work.
The manager is the person who creates the conditions for disclosure to feel safe, or not. Who knows what to do when someone tells them they need adjustments, or who defaults to inaction out of fear of getting it wrong. Who asks “what do you need?” rather than assuming based on a diagnosis and their own stereotypes.
Organisations cannot expect managers to become neurodiversity experts. But they can equip them with practical resources, build their awareness, and create the conditions for those conversations to happen well. That investment is not a nice-to-have. It is foundational.
2. Clear communication is a professional skill
One of the things I find most useful to say to organisations is this: the adjustments neurodivergent professionals need are often just better practice for everyone.
Clear communication is the clearest example. The difference between “can you look into the Q3 figures?” and “can you review the Q3 revenue figures, identify any variances over 5% from budget, and send me a summary by Thursday 3pm?” is not a reasonable adjustment. It is the difference between ambiguity and clarity. Neurotypical employees can often infer what is needed. Neurodivergent employees should not have to.
When leaders make the implicit explicit, document processes, and replace generic feedback with specific and actionable guidance, performance improves across the board. This is not about lowering standards. It is about communicating with enough precision that people can actually meet them.
3. Prepare the organisation before you hire
This is the one organisations most often skip, and it can cause the harm.
You signal that you are want to attract neurodivergent candidates, and then onboard them into an environment that has not been prepared for it. That means awareness sessions for leaders and teams before neurodivergent hires arrive. It means physical environment changes, accessible recruitment design, and clear disclosure pathways. It means your managers knowing what to do, rather than finding out on the job at someone else’s expense.
The other four areas
The report also covers reimagining recruitment and interview processes, creating genuine psychological safety for disclosure, building community and connection for neurodivergent employees, and leveraging external partnerships rather than trying to build all expertise in-house. Each of these matters, and each is covered in detail in the report itself.
What can you do right now?
Whether you are a manager, an HR professional, a senior leader, or a neurodivergent professional reading this and nodding along, there are things you can act on today.
If you manage people, start with one question. The next time someone in your team is struggling, or the next time someone discloses something to you, ask: “What do you need?” Not “what does your diagnosis mean?” Not “what does HR say we should do?” Just: what do you need? You will learn more from that conversation than from any training I could give you.
If you are responsible for hiring, look at your job descriptions this week. Not your diversity statement. The actual job descriptions. Count how many requirements are genuinely essential and how many are there because they have always been there. That list is where bias hides.
If you lead an organisation or a team, ask yourself honestly: would someone feel safe disclosing a neurodivergent condition to their manager here? Not in theory. In practice. If you are not certain the answer is yes, that is where your energy needs to go.
And if you are a neurodivergent professional who is tired of being told to adapt to a system that was not designed for you, the report has a whole section written for you too. Individual empowerment strategies, practical guidance on disclosure, and how to navigate a career on your own terms.
Where to read it
Whilst the stories are from accountants, the recommendations are universal to organisations and to neurodivergent professionals So I would highly recommend getting yourself a cup of tea and the report and having a read.
You can find the full report here: Neurodiversity in accountancy.
Next week is the Easter holidays and I am lucky enough to be singing with my choir on the Disneyland Paris stage on Tuesday! The week the new Frozen themed land opens - and yes we will be singing a song from Frozen. So therefore there will be no newsletter - I have not been organised enough to write two this week. So I will see you the other side of Easter.
Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate.
Thanks, as always, for reading.
Tania
P.S. The report has a whole section on individual empowerment too. Because systems change slowly, and people need practical strategies right now.
P.P.S. Did you see the tech toolkit for neurodivergent professionals that I have recently shared on social media? Read more here: The Tech Toolkit for Neurodivergent Professionals | PegSquared
