Women accountants care about human costs

MALE and female number-crunchers may deal differently with ethical dilemmas - a fact which present accounting regulations fail to recognise. An international study of auditors by researchers at the University of Central Lancashire, is trying to discover how gender influences decisions on morals and money.

Preliminary studies suggest that men tend to take a traditional ethical stance while women accountants are more flexible, taking greater note of human costs. Researchers at the University argue that as most regulatory bodies are dominated by men, this could be causing an imbalance in the system.

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