How Diverse is Accounting in the UK?

Accounting is a profession that often gets a reputation as lacking in diversity. When asked to think of accountants many people imagine the stereotypical middle-aged white man. Is this a true representation of accounting today?

If you read the 2019 reports from the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), the accounting profession definitely has a long way to go when it comes to diversity. The report concluded that more efforts needed to be made with some firms not even keeping any data on diversity.

The FRC’s findings

There were several interesting findings detailed in the FRC’s report. For instance, 46% of accounting management roles are taken up by women but only 17% of women reach partner level. The figures show an even bigger discrepancy in smaller firms where only 11% of women ever make partner despite women filling more than 50% of management roles.

It’s not just women who are under-represented at a senior level in accounting firms, members of the BAME community are too. This means that while the stereotype of a white man in a senior position is not completely accurate, it’s not as far from the truth as it should be.

What can be done to improve diversity in accounting?

Changing the diversity landscape in the accounting profession is not easy. One step that has been suggested is that firms sign-up to the Government Equalities Office pledge. This involves challenging business leaders to take personal responsibility for promoting diversity in their organisations.

However, the entire mindset of the accounting profession needs to be changed. For this to happen, young people from different backgrounds need to be encouraged to see accounting as a prospective career. Attracting young people in this way means that the diversity of people gaining accounting qualifications should improve. In time, this should lead to a more diverse accounting pipeline altogether.

In order for this to work well, other steps also need to be taken such as:

• Providing mentors and role models to a diverse range of potential accounting students.
• Being completely dedicated to the value of diversity and valuing everyone’s voice, instead of just “ticking the box”.
• Ensuring that top management sees the added value of diversity and is completely committed to it.
• Encouraging everyone across the organisation to contribute ideas and ensuring that all ideas are considered.

This is all a huge challenge, especially given the socially privileged discrimination that still exists in the UK accounting industry and across the world, in countries like the US. There is certainly no quick fix for a problem that is having a detrimental effect on the accounting profession. Making the necessary changes is going to take a lot of hard work and a great deal of re-education for some people who are already in the profession.

It may be a long time before the accounting profession can be considered to be truly diverse. However, the effort will be worthwhile as diversity and inclusion bring with them rich social and economic benefits that the profession can only benefit from.

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