Gender and ethnicity in Accountancy magazine

‘Accountancy Magazine’, is an official publication of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW). As such it is a snapshot of how the ICAEW utilizes imagery to portray its identity to its members. There has been a steady stream of research on visual elements in accounting by examining the depictions of women and minority ethnic groups in publications of professional bodies. Our research investigates the images in 39 issues of Accountancy Magazine from July 2008- September 2011- when the magazine was discontinued.

The professions after the Milburn report and Equality Act

Accountancy appeared to react to a certain extent to the publication of the Milburn report and the Equality Act. There were statisticallyÿsignificant changes in the number of images of women and ethnic minorities depicted in positions of authority or as accountants. Moreover, there was a statistically significant change in the number of images showing accountants of any gender or ethnicity after the publications of the Milburn Report and the Equality Act. These findings suggest that Accountancyÿreacted toÿexternal initiatives for changes in the professionÿby depicting images reflecting the readership of the magazine

There is still some work to do

Our statistical analysis also presents strong evidence of the overwhelming representation of white male accountants and white men in positions of authority in Accountancy magazine. The main empirical finding is that although there is a genuine attempt to reflect the diversity of the profession, it is clear that Accountancyÿis still signalling that they see an accountant as white and male.

Practical implications

The study has significant policy initiatives for all UK accountancy bodies. The paper argues that more attention needs to be paid by those responsible for constructing these representations and how gender and ethnicity and related issues are depicted and communicated in official publications from the accountancy bodies to both its membership and to outside audiences.

Reference

Calling to Account: Representations of Gender and Ethnicity in Accountancy Magazine (2008-2011)? by Orthodoxia Kyriacou, Jonathan Ashong?Lamptey Sylvia Gottschalk, Othmar Lehner, Christina Neokleous, and George Kapaya