Accounting for everybody: Diversity and inclusion for the profession

If accounting is to become a vibrant and diverse profession, relevant to a broad spectrum of society, then change must start with accounting education, says Professor Nick McGuigan, an award-winning educator and Director of EDI at Monash Business School.

During the period of the marriage equality debate in Australia, in 2018, McGuigan and co-researchers Dr Alessandro Ghio from the University of Laval, Canada, and Dr Lisa Powell from Monash University began work on a research project called Queering Accounting

One focus of that project was education in the accounting profession, and how diverse it is in regard to LGBTQIA+. The outcome was revealing.

A preliminary report investigating global student and accounting educator perspectives found:

• Educators generally agree that accounting courses include very limited experiences and views of LGBTIQA+ people.
• Accounting education reproduces heteronormativity (that is, the idea that heterosexuality is the ‘norm’) and educators tend to remain neutral on this
• Educators tend to express a generally positive attitude towards LGBTIQA+ elements.
• Students perceive that accounting courses include little material about LGBTIQA+ representation.
• Students express a neutral position on whether accounting curricula reproduces heteronormativity.
• Students feel at ease to engage with LGBTIQA+ identities in their classrooms and with their peers.
• Students appear to be less positive than educators on the acceptance of LGBTIQA+ people in the accounting profession.

“The visibility of that spectrum is just not present in accounting education,” Powell says. “LGBTIQA+ people cannot see themselves in accounting. And if they can’t see themselves in it, how do they know they might be included in the profession?”

Indeed, the preliminary report said, “Overall, accounting educators recognise that accounting curricula rarely incorporate the experiences, actions, or views of LGBTIQA+ people. [One] highlights the genuine absence of sexuality and, as such, the inferred heterosexuality as the norm abounds in accounting textbooks, articles, references, media and other course materials.”

The research revealed a noticeable lack of case studies of LGBTIQA+ businesses, Ghio says. There are no profiles of LGBTIQA+ CEOs or CFOs. There are few LGBTIQA+ guest speakers brought into classrooms. 

The lack of such representation, while in line with the conservative nature of the accounting profession, presents roadblocks for the profession as it means very little lived experience of people with diverse sexualities is contained within accounting education curricula.

“It is a conservative profession with very little room to be yourself,” one research participant said. “This is only intensified when you are a minority.”

“LGBTIQA in a workplace is accepted but accounting course material has not yet adapted to be inclusive,” another said.

If those in the accounting profession want to make the space welcoming and attractive to a new generation of talent that expects such diversity, change is required.

Why diversity matters in accounting

It is easy to argue that in business, the gender, sexuality, race and faith of the people behind the business doesn’t matter. It could be considered irrelevant. Business is business – it’s about the numbers, not the people.

Indeed, a few educator respondents to the research study suggested that gender and sexuality are irrelevant to the content they are teaching.

“There appeared to be a lack of awareness and understanding of how the scarcity of LGBTIQA+ curricular narrative leads to negated student identity and misrecognition, subverting the possibility for LGBTIQA+ students to be recognised and truly understood,” the report said.

That argument is ignoring the fact that successful business is about people, McGuigan says.

“You can’t remove the human connection from accounting,” he says. “Accounting is about that ability to translate information for individuals.”

“The more you can empathise and understand where someone is coming from, the better you’re able to provide really good, professional advice. This is the age-old debate. Some people say that accounting is objective, but we know that’s not the case.”

How do we bring diversity to accounting education?

The required change will be challenging to introduce, McGuigan says.

The accounting educators surveyed during the research project, all from accounting and finance departments of Times Higher Education ranking universities across five continents, revealed that they’re not generally aware of such diversity issues.

“In educational terms, we have what is called a hidden curriculum,” he says. “The heteronormative environment has produced an unconscious bias, such that educators don’t even realise there needs to be a shift. But even when they do realise, they feel ill-equipped to engage.”

Training is required to boost knowledge and confidence around how to engage, McGuigan says. That training and knowledge can then enable curriculum redesign.

The foundational work is raising awareness of the problem.

“If we want a thriving profession, we need examples within the curricula and within accounting education design,” McGuigan says.

“Individuals can engage with that however they would like to, but they need to be supported. So that’s the second step. The first is raising awareness. The second is providing support and allowing educators to design and create things accordingly.”