Class Reproduction in Professional Recruitment: Examining the Accounting Profession

This paper argues that the employment practices of the 'big-five' CA firms systematically discriminate against applicants from working-class communities. While issues of discrimination in relation to race and gender have been considered in the literature, discrimination and class is relatively under-explored. A historical analysis of the formation of the accounting profession serves to illustrate the importance of class in controlling entry to the profession. During this period professions such as accounting came to play an increasingly important role in the reproduction of class from one generation to the next. However, in an overtly meritocratic setting processes of class reproduction are subtler. Initially access to university education was a key way of controlling access to professions; however, with the growth of a mass education system other strategies of reproduction have emerged. These are commonly based on an emphasis of charismatic qualities, also known as generic or transferable skills. This paper presents an analysis of the application forms of the big-five firms and argues that selection of future employees on the basis of these forms will favour applicants from the middle-class. Therefore, the conclusion is that there is evidence of systematic discrimination.