Advancing accounting through stories and lived experiences: Professional Accounting Center’s DEI Case Collection
In the last couple of years, the push for a more equitable and diverse workplace, reflective of the multicultural and connected world we live in, has changed the professional world. In response to the greater awareness of the positive impact of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), the Professional Accounting Centre (PAC) at the University of Toronto recently released the DEI Case Collection for Professional Accountants, a collection of carefully curated, real and realistic stories as well as knowledge frameworks meant to inform both accounting students and professionals about DEI.
Len Brooks, the director of PAC and the Master of Forensic Accounting Program, was integral in bringing this Collection to life. Professor Brooks understands the importance of stories in communicating complex, and often uncomfortable, topics to his students. He notes that “for an audience to understand what is being taught, to identify with it, and internalize it, they must understand why it is relevant to them specifically. That means using cases. Cases gets students thinking about what is happening in their communities, not what is happening in some remote place. And the knowledge frameworks provided in the collection help crystalize this thinking into useful actions.”
The cases that Professor Brooks mentions were meticulously selected to reflect situations and experiences that have happened or could happen in accounting to get students to understand the importance of DEI work. Accountants are always dealing with people, trying to understand them, influence them, instruct them, inform them, work with them, and get them to trust what accountants are saying and doing. The quality of those interactions, and the effectiveness, credibility and trust that results, depends upon the DEI factors involved. The urgency for DEI understanding, sensitivity and expertise has never been more critical to the success of accountants, but until now “there hasn’t been a collection of cases which deal with [DEI] subjects in various scenarios that relate to accounting.”
In the past, many professions have neglected the need for diversity, equity, and inclusion because of widely held systemic biases and lack of forethought. But society has now come to the realization that DEI factors are very important to the profession and that our curriculums don’t deal with it effectively, to the detriment of all concerned. Change is call for, and the DEI Case Collection aims to combat the neglect professionals and students in accounting have faced.
When discussing some of the challenges faced when bringing this collection together, Professor Brooks says that he and his team of colleagues and consultants found it difficult to pick cases that powerfully and specifically illustrated the principles of DEI and what is most important as students enter the profession. “Another difficulty was in garnering cases that really brought out the issues that would encourage learning. However, that did not mean we picked cases where the DEI principles were easy to spot.”
Moving forward, Professor Brooks intends to continually update the Case Collection as new case-worthy topics surface and/or research informs conversation surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion. By keeping the cases and background notes fresh, engaging, and salient, Professor Brooks expects that the DEI Case Collection can continue to play an interesting, foundational transformative role for accountants and how accounting is practiced.
The DEI Case Collection, an open-source document, can be accessed here.