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Study reveals modest increases in diversity among audit partners in public companies, suggesting potential impacts of DEI policies.
In light of recent pushback against DEI initiatives, this study benchmarks diversity among public company audit partners prior to a potential inflection point. Using PCAOB AuditorSearch data from 2019 and 2023, we find that in 2023, 68% of SEC audit partners were white males, 21% white females, and 11% from racial or ethnic minority groups. SEC engagements are among the most prestigious and lucrative in public accounting. Our findings reveal a modest increase in partner diversity since 2019 and aim to inform discussions on current levels and trajectories along with the impact of DEI policy changes in the accounting profession.
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Joo et al. (2025) studied this question.
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