The Consideration of Diversity in the Accounting Literature: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

This paper presents the findings of a systematic literature review to identify research trends and future research opportunities focusing on how diversity is considered in the accounting literature. We retrieved 428 studies that consider diversity published in accounting journals over the period 1979–2021 from the Scopus database. Our analysis shows that research about diversity in accounting has significantly increased over the last five years, with the majority focusing on gender and on questions related to corporate governance. We identify four major themes on the topic of diversity: (i) diversity in the accounting profession; (ii) diversity in corporate governance; (iii) diversity in audit and accounting processes; and (iv) the influence of preparing and reporting organizational information on diversity. The results of these studies highlight that having more organizational diversity and reporting on diversity have positive implications for organizational performance; however, at the same time, this often creates or perpetuates power imbalances. A question remains as to whether this increasing focus on diversity in the literature reflects increasing attention to diversity in accounting to promote equity and social justice. This paper represents the first systematic review of diversity considerations in accounting, and helps scholars understand the main topics explored so far and, where research should focus next.