How can Women's Lack of Upward Mobility in Accounting Organizations be Explained?

Abstract

Despite popular portrayals of women's current success in public accounting, labor force statistics indicate that few women advance to partnership-level positions. Accounting research on the scarcity of female partners tends to approach this issue from a person-centered perspective and to focus on characteristics of women as an explanation for their occupational status. This article demonstrates that a situation-centered perspective provides a useful contribution in understanding the scarcity of women partners. The findings are based on a survey of 188 male and 184 female accountants.

Reasons women chartered accountants leave public accounting firms prior to achieving partnership status: A qualitative analysis

“…The published statistics from AICPA (2008) and ICAO (2008) are consistent with earlier studies that reported that the number of women entering accounting fi rms is the same or greater than for men (Christie, 1997;Flynn, 1996;Kinard, Little, & Little, 1998;Maupin, 1993aMaupin, , 1993bPillsbury et al, 1989). The comparable participation of men and women in the accounting profession has been evident since the mid-1980s (Flynn;McCracken, 2000;McKeen & Bujaki, 1994), thus negating the oft used explanation that as more women enter the profession, more can be found at the partnership level.…”

“…Some studies noted that the fi rms' structure, culture, policies, and processes (organizational arrangements, Benschop and Doorewaard, 1998b) may contribute to the high turnover of women CAs (see, for example Anderson-Gough et al, 2005;Kinard et al, 1998;Maupin, 1993aMaupin, , 1993bMaupin & Lehman, 1994). With few exceptions (see Maupin, 1993aMaupin, , 1993bAnderson-Gough et al, 2001, however, researchers have left unchallenged the fi rms' and profession's organizational arrangements and the assumptions underpinning those arrangements.…”

“…With few exceptions (see Maupin, 1993aMaupin, , 1993bAnderson-Gough et al, 2001, however, researchers have left unchallenged the fi rms' and profession's organizational arrangements and the assumptions underpinning those arrangements. Dalton et al (1997) provide some insights to organizational arrangements in their study of context specifi c predictors of turnover.…”

“…The academic research, often survey-based (Anderson-Gough, Grey & Robson, 2005) typically takes a person-centric perspective leading to recommendations that women accountants should change to "fi t in" and advance in public accounting fi rms (e.g., American Institute of Certifi ed Public Accountants [AICPA], 2004;Doucet & Hooks, 1999;Hewlett, 2002;Howell, Carter, & Schied, 2002;Pillsbury, Capozzoli, & Ciampa, 1989). Studies, with some notable exceptions (e.g., Maupin, 1993a, 1993b, Anderson-Gough, Grey & Robson, 2005, have either ignored or left unchallenged the possible infl uence on career decisions of structures and practices in public accounting fi rms and within the accounting profession more generally.…”

“…Experience is made sense of, constructed and told in many different ways (Alvesson and Billing, 1997) yet there is still limited "insight into the day-to-day lived experience of women accountants" (Johnston and Kyriacou, 2006, p. 52). When women accountants' experiences are reported in the research they are often sound bites taken from open text fi elds on survey questionnaires (see, for example, Maupin, 1993aMaupin, , 1993b. Coffey (1994), Grey (1998) and Anderson-Gough et al (2001 provide insights to the subjective experiences of individuals working in public accounting fi rms, but Anderson-Gough et al (2005) is the only study to explicitly address the meanings within a gender context.…”