Women’s Role in the Accounting Profession: A Comparative Study between Italy and Romania

Abstract

Historically, in most countries, the accounting profession has always been male-dominated. Liberal professions such as lawyers, engineers, architects and doctors share the common trait of conservatism. The accounting profession, which is also a liberal profession, is no exception. Starting from this premise, this work aims to provide, using a historical and institutional perspective, a picture of the past and current “journey” in the accountancy profession of women-chartered accountants and auditors in Italy and Romania. Drawing from the theoretical framework of gendered construction of the accounting profession, the paper points out issues affecting the presence, the degree of representativeness and the role (concerning the presence among the higher level of professional activities and governance positions) of women within the National Chartered Association and their continued under-representation in Italy and Romania. Findings contribute to providing insights useful to develop a future agenda and fill in the research gaps in this field.

Keywords

• accounting profession
• chartered public accountants
• gender
• governance
• women