Women and the prospects for partnership in professional accountancy firms.

Whiting, Rosalind H.; Gammie, Elizabeth; Herbohn, Kathleen

Abstract

This paper examines three possible reasons (stereotypical discrimination, structural obstacles and employee's preferences) for the lack of women partners in professional accountancy firms in Australia, UK and New Zealand. Data are collected from an experimental survey and interviews of current partners. Whilst women's perceived preferences and organisational structural barriers contributed strongly to the lack of women partners in all sizes of firms, traditional stereotypical discrimination against women at the partnership decision point was only displayed in metropolitan large non-Big 4 firms, and it is suggested that this is related to intense competitive pressure and a constrained partnership resource.

Citation

WHITING, R.H., GAMMIE, E. and HERBOHN, K. 2014. Women and the prospects for partnership in professional accountancy firms. Accounting and finance [online], 55(2), pages 575-605. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1111/acfi.12066

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 10, 2013
• Online Publication Date: Jan 15, 2014
• Publication Date: Jun 30, 2015
• Deposit Date: Nov 16, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 16, 2016
• Journal: Accounting and finance
• Print ISSN: 0810-5391
• Electronic ISSN: 1467-629X
• Publisher: Wiley Open Access
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 55
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 575-605
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/acfi.12066
• Keywords: Professional accountancy firms; Gender; Discrimination; Structural barriers; Work preferences
• Public URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10059/1350