History from accounting's margins: international research on race and gender

Abstract

Historical research in accounting has recently expanded to include studies of race, gender, and class and their impact on accounting. Building on Lehman's gender research (1992), recent work includes studies of the exclusion of Spanish women, African Americans, Maori women, and black South Africans from the practice of public accountancy and the marginalisation and deskilling of working-class accounting positions in the UK. Analyses have been conducted examining the role of the British profession in forestalling indigenisation in Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and Kenya. This research on the accounting profession, in turn, has led to research on the impact of accounting practices on oppressed groups. While this widening of research areas is a welcome change, this article calls for more explicitly political motivations for historical accounting research and an ever-present focus on how this research can help ameliorate current oppressive conditions in which accounting plays a role.

The census as accounting artefact: A research note with illustrations from the early Australian colonial period

“…Research of "history from accounting's margins" (Hammond, 2003; see also Annisette, 2007), including the social construction of realities with reference to gender, race and ethnicity, is a key area that may benefit. The census and muster data can, if used in a manner consistent with the underlying tenets of "new" accounting histories, aid in foregrounding people who have been marginalized or oppressed.…”

Applying Intersectionality in Organizations: Inequality Markers, Cultural Scripts and Advancement Practices in a Professional Service Firm

“…For example, only a handful of studies have specifically explored the influence of race and ethnicity on career advancement in the accounting profession (Hammond, 2003). The studies available were primarily published in the 1990s (Weisenfeld and Robinson-Backmon, 2001) and focused on African-Americans in public accounting in the US.…”

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in the Accounting Profession – An Exploratory Study

“…The accounting profession, by its apparent exclusionary practices, has historically been a white, male‐dominated profession that has used its professional qualifications to position itself as a highly autonomous and powerful field (see, for example, Annisette ; Hammond , ; Hammond and Streeter ; Lehman ; Ramji ; Robinson‐Backmon and Weisenfeld ). Robinson‐Backmon and Weisenfeld (: 41) explain that in the United States most businesses were started by ‘white males’ and ‘… therefore it is not surprising that current organisational cultures are more hospitable to white males and less so for the relative newcomers , women and African‐Americans’.…”

“…The accounting profession, by its apparent exclusionary practices, has historically been a white, maledominated profession that has used its professional qualifications to position itself as a highly autonomous and powerful field (see, for example, Annisette 2000;Hammond 1997Hammond , 2003Hammond and Streeter 1994;Lehman 1992;Ramji 2007;Robinson-Backmon and Weisenfeld 2002). Robinson-Backmon and Weisenfeld (2002: 41) explain that in the United States most businesses were started by 'white males' and ' .…”