Conflicting Accounts of Inclusiveness in Accounting Firm Recruitment Website Photographs

Abstract

In response to this special issue’s focus on new directions in auditing research, specifically its call for more analysis on the ‘real’ impact of inclusion discourses within the accounting profession, this paper critically interprets representations of gender and ethnic diversity in accounting firms’ recruitment photographs using a critical visual methodology. We analyze photographs from the recruitment websites of public accounting firms for depictions of gender and ethnic inclusiveness using a Barthesian approach. We analyze and interpret the denotative and connotative content of 1493 photographs and connotatively interpret the text and photographs in two particularly salient recruitment documents using critical semiotics. We find women (non-white individuals) make up approximately half (one quarter) of the people depicted, roughly matching trends in the population. However, women and non-white individuals are frequently depicted in subordinate roles. While they are denotatively ‘present’ in recruitment photographs, they are constructed connotatively as ‘other’ in public accounting, consistent with hegemony. Women and non-white individuals are generally constructed as outsiders, despite their numerical presence in the photographs. Accounting firms should be aware of various possible connotative interpretations of their photographs, as these interpretations may conflict with the accounts with respect to diversity and inclusion conveyed in photographs’ denotative content.

Acknowledgements

Dr. Sarah E.K. Smith, a colleague in Communication and Media Studies at Carleton University, was particularly helpful in suggesting references and interpretations related to visual methodologies. We thank the following research assistants for their excellent work on this project: Christopher Carroll, Tahmor Ghumman, Luke Labbé, and Jacqueline Marty. Finally, we are grateful for the constructive comments received from the associate editors and the two anonymous reviewers.

Supplemental Data

Additional materials are available in an online Supplement at the journal’s Taylor and Francis website, https://doi.org/10.1080/09638180.2020.1786420.

Notes

1 ‘Audiencing’ refers ‘to the process by which a visual image has its meanings renegotiated, or even rejected, by particular audiences watching in specific circumstances’ (Rose, 2016, p. 39).

2 This was the end of the first full recruitment period available after we received a grant to fund our research. Early January also represented the first day of the January – April university term and corresponds with the beginning of busy season for accounting firms in Canada.

3 Two additional papers focus primarily on analyzing text from these websites.

4 http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/Careers-Interview-Guide/$FILE/Careers-Interview-Guide.pdf (Accessed originally January 6, 2013; most recently accessed October 15, 2019).

5 https://www.getacblife.com/uploads/images/documents/cblife_women_of_cb.pdf (Accessed originally January 6, 2013; most recently accessed February 5, 2020).

6 We also thank an anonymous reviewer for providing alternative connotative interpretations of some features of the photographs.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Telfer-Sprott Research Fund, a joint funding program by the Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa and the Sprott School of Business, Carleton University.