Accountants and DEI: By the numbers

October 26, 2022 9:00 AM

Among the leadership of the accounting profession — at organizations like the American Institute of CPAs and at the top firms in the field — there is a general consensus that the pursuit of a more diverse and inclusive profession is an important goal, and that success in that area is worth a great deal of effort.

The profession as a whole, however, is not necessarily convinced.

A recent survey conducted by Accounting Today's parent company, Arizent, across a number of different industries and professions revealed both that there remains a significant portion of the profession that is not convinced of the value of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, and that accounting as a sector is behind the curve on embracing DEI in comparison to sectors like banking, insurance, and wealth management.

A far-reaching report on the survey is available here; a number of accounting-specific details are shared below. The accounting respondents were overwhelmingly from smaller firms (74% had 100 or fewer employees), and 82% were manager-level or above. And see our new feature on "The many faces of diversity in accounting."

AT-102522-DEI - Accountant reactions to DEI - CHART

When asked their reaction to DEI, the most common response for accountants, at 20%, was that it was overblown and gets too much attention; for all the other sectors surveyed, the most common response was "Good/great/positive."

AT-102522-DEI- Diversity and better decisions CHART

A range of studies across a wide range of businesses have demonstrated that more diverse organizations make better decisions, and while roughly half of accountants surveyed agree (48%), fully 20% of them say that more diverse organizations "probably" or "definitely" do not make better decisions.

AT-102522-DEI-How important is it that you firm address DEI - CHART

Accountants are also divided over the need for their firms to address DEI; while 29% think it's "very" or "extremely" important, 36% say that it is "very" or "completely" unimportant.

AT-102522-DEI- Diversity and decision-making comparison - CHART

Respondents in other industries are much more likely to think that diverse organizations make better decisions; they're also much more likely than accountants to think that it's very important for their employer to address DEI

AT-102522-DEI- Diversity in accounting teams - CHART

Some of the ambivalence about DEI may stem from the fact that accounting teams are generally fairly homogenous: More than half of respondents said their teams had three or fewer different demographic characteristics (race, gender, age, orientation, religion, class, etc.).

AT-102522-DEI-Diversity in accounting leadership - CHART

Leadership teams at accounting firms were even less diverse, with 78% including three or fewer demographic characteristics.

AT-102522-DEI-Comparing team diversity- CHART

By comparison, across all industries, organizations were more likely to have teams and leadership groups that represented many more demographic group.

AT-102522-DEI-How healthy is your workplace environment - CHART

Nonetheless, the overwhelming majority of survey respondents from the accounting profession reported that their firms were healthy (49%) or "borderline healthy" (43%) workplaces; while the cross-industry average was also fairly high, it leaned more toward "borderline" (52%) than healthy (35%).