Celebrating advances in LGBT+ diversity in the accountancy profession: Not letting idealistic purity become the enemy of progress

This paper aims to provide a commentary on evidence presented and issues raised by Egan (2018) regarding LGBT+ diversity initiatives in the accountancy profession.

This paper is an invited commentary based on the author’s experiences of LGBT+ and other diversity initiatives in the profession.

There is cause for optimism in how far the profession has progressed in some countries on supporting LGBT+ (and other forms of) diversity.

As multinational accountancy firms can be agents for change in countries where there remains considerable discrimination and hostility to LGBT+ (and other) communities, constructive critique to help further improve the firms’ innovative actions on LGBT+ and other diversity issues could have a major positive impact on social justice. Egan (2018) is an example of such constructive critique.

Where other academic studies take a disparagingly critical approach, they risk both squandering the opportunity to help achieve the progress they espouse and discouraging other firms embracing innovative diversity practices.

This study provides a counter perspective to some critical accounting arguments that appear to value idealism over progress.