Why cultural inclusion matters in accounting

Organizations worldwide are made stronger when their teams represent different experiences and perspectives. This diversity of thought is supported by corporate governance, accountability, ethics, and trust, research suggests.

Your background influences personal decision making, work styles, communication and feedback preferences, and overall team dynamics — making them an important factor when building inclusive workplaces.

Inclusion initiatives often start with good intentions, but sometimes “they just stop there,” said Bill Bradshaw, director of inclusion and impact at Withum, a Princeton, N.J.-based advisory, tax, and accounting firm with offices nationwide.

Many leaders are considering how to sustain meaningful progress in cultivating workplace cultures where innovation can flourish, and everybody feels empowered to contribute their best.

As organizations continue to recognize the value of teams consisting of people from a wide variety of backgrounds, the upcoming AICPA Accounting Inclusion & Impact Symposium session on this topic, “Building Bridges Across Cultures: Strengthening Collaboration in Today’s Workplace,” will offer insights and actionable approaches for building workplaces where diverse perspectives and backgrounds are welcomed, encouraged, and supported in a way everybody thrives. The AIIS conference will take place Oct. 14–16 at the Atlanta Marriott Perimeter Center.

Co-led by Bradshaw and Rumbi Petrozzello, CPA/CFF, CGMA, both members of the AICPA National Commission on Diversity and Inclusion, the session will offer practical strategies, research-based insights, and profession-based scenarios to help leaders build more cultural awareness, strengthen communication, and foster greater collaboration.

“The commitment [to culturally inclusive workplaces] has to be a spoken, authentic commitment,” said Petrozzello, head of assessment and strategy at Seramount, a workforce research and advisory company based in Washington, D.C. “When you’re doing [inclusivity] well, you understand what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. That also helps build your policies.”

What does it mean to be a culturally inclusive workplace?

Culture includes shared norms, values, beliefs, and behaviors beyond nationality or ethnicity. Leaders can start by understanding the demographics of their workforce, such as language, location, gender, work styles, background, lived experience, etc. Effective cross-cultural collaboration requires curiosity, self-awareness, and continuous learning. Also, organizations of all sizes operate in an increasingly interconnected world through global operations, international clients, or a multicultural workforce.

“In the world of public accounting and professional services, in order to be a successful leader, you have to understand that this work is a global picture,” said Bradshaw. “There is not one organization that I work with or have worked for in this profession that does not have some sort of global arm, whether it’s the international arm of a Big Four firm or a small firm belonging to an international network of firms. Our work is no longer U.S.-centric.”

For example, he said, a U.S. organization with two India-based offices that together employ 500 people should consider “How do [these offices] operate? What is the lifecycle of a team member? What is their value system? How do [employees] want to be compensated? What does success look like? What’s the longevity? How do [these offices] retain people?”

Asking these kinds of questions and discovering their answers forms the foundation of inclusivity and “cultural competence,” said Petrozzello. The goal is to get all employees, regardless of where they’re based, feeling as though they belong to the larger organization.

An inclusive workplace “doesn’t happen overnight and it doesn’t happen intrinsically,” Bradshaw said. “You have to create an inclusive culture and there are multifaceted pieces of that.”  

And once an inclusive culture is created, it has to be maintained.

“What people need to always remember is inclusion is an action and when you stop doing it, it stops happening,” said Petrozzello. “If you’re not actively including, you’re sort of inadvertently excluding.”

The solution, Bradshaw and Petrozzello agree, is continual learning. “We have to educate and upskill.”  

The work doesn’t stop when things get difficult

Building a culturally inclusive workplace can feel uncomfortable and there will be mistakes along the way, but efforts can lead to higher performance, better problem-solving, stronger employee loyalty, and deeper connections with global markets.

“People will leave companies because they want to go and work someplace where they can be themselves, where they feel welcomed, and where they feel valued,” Petrozzello said. 

The path to a more inclusive workplace may not be straightforward, but learning from others helps.

“Grace is important,” Petrozzello said. “Not just for yourself, but for other people.” And success, Bradshaw said, means continuing to build.  

To see Bradshaw and Petrozzello, register for the AIIS conference.

—Jamie J. Roessner is a senior content writer for the JofA. To comment on this article, contact Jeff Drew at Jeff.Drew@aicpa-cima.com.