What social issues impacted the accounting industry the most in 2021 (and what that means for the future)

A great place to start the year is by asking yourself some tough questions:

• What social issues does your accounting firm face? 

• How do these issues impact your firm, team and clients? 

• Do you have best practices, policies and procedures to address these issues?

To better-understand your answers to these questions, we asked a panel of accounting leaders about what they’re doing to tackle social issues at their firms, the policies they’re implementing and the changes they’re making.

Here are the biggest social issues impacting the world of accounting, according to the experts.

The challenge of pay equality in distributed teams

With many firms running hybrid, remote, and/ or distributed teams, it can be hard to identify how you should remunerate your employees. 

In a classic scenario, you’d likely pay your employees according to the average salary in the industry, geographical location, and level of experience. But what if you have two employees who perform the same work but are located in different countries? How would you remunerate them fairly?

It’s a challenge Joyce Ong, Founder of Tax Nuggets Academy, is currently facing:

According to Steven Byler, President & Co-Founder of GrowthLab Financial Services, it's important to always put people first. 

“In our business, it’s all about people. If we don’t have people, we don’t have revenue, we don’t have income. If we lose them, it’s a game stopper,” he said. 

Undoubtedly, it’s important to reward your employees. But how can you make it fair for everyone without harming your business? Apart from monetary rewards, there are other means—intrinsic motivators—to remunerate your employees. These can include:

• Leadership opportunities

• A strong and positive culture

• A company-wide purpose that trickles down and across each function

• The feeling of belonging

Racial tensions leading to funding

According to Shonnette Sullivan, CEO & Co-Founder of The Shekinah Group, the racial tension in 2021 increased awareness and provided all-important education on some important discussions. 

“While there is racial tension, and adversity going on, it has been beneficial in the aspect that there is more funding and more resources targeted to the African American community,” she said.

Recommended reading: Advice for retaining African American accountants

The gender pay gap in accounting and what you can do about it

Male accountants are paid 40-50% more than women, and in Australia and New Zealand alone, the average gender pay gap ranges between $50,000 to $60,000.

“It is not about women getting paid less for the same job or level of experience. It is about men going for higher-paying jobs. The question I am interested in is why aren’t women taking those jobs?” asked Joyce.

So what is the reason behind male accountants going for higher opportunities than women? According to Joyce, it’s about stigma:

To deal with this stigma, everyone has a role to play. It’s a continuous process that takes time to implement.

“The conversation can hopefully shift towards giving men equal opportunity to be more flexible with their work. If we head in that direction, we get more men involved in the conversation,” said Joyce.

It all starts with education

Removing the stigma of gender pay equality issues is dependent on how these roles are perceived. And often, these perceptions are formed during childhood. 

Karbon CCO and Co-Founder, Ian Vacin, spoke candidly about his own experience:

“My son had a project in his school where they had to talk about their family. My son told his class that mom does domestic stuff in the house and dad brings the paycheck. And the irony is that my wife earns more than I do. It is a conversation that has to happen. I had to sit with my son and tell him that it is a shared responsibility and how it actually works.”

The stigma set by the media and historical cliches works to create a barrier for younger generations, separating them from reality. 

“You can’t think about how things might be projected from the historical point of view, you have to think about the situation that everybody is actually in. The conversation has to happen in order for the change to occur.” Ian Vacin, CCO and Co-Founder, Karbon

Your journey to social sustainability 

While these social issues can’t be dealt with overnight, it’s the small steps and conversations that get things moving in the right direction. 

Consider using these experiences and insights as your own starting point to embracing a positive change for a bright future.