Non-linear relationship between gender diversity in the partnership and profit performance in accounting firms

Purpose - This study aims to examine how gender diversity within the CPA partnership team impacts the firm’s profit performance. Design/methodology/approach - The authors use the two-stage least squares method in analyzing the gender–diversity–performance relationship using the pooled sample obtained from the National Survey Reports on Taiwan CPA firms between 1992 and 2008. Findings - The authors observe a non-linear relationship between gender diversity at the partner level and profit performance. The relationship curves vary according to firm size. After identifying the point of inflexion for these curves, the findings indicate that the average gender diversity is below the inflexion point for large CPA firms, but exceeds the inflexion point for medium size firms. Practical implications - According to the critical mass theory, increasing gender diversity within the partnership team can have a positive influence on the value of the firm. Hence, the authors argue that for large CPA firms in Taiwan, the proportion of female partners leaves room for improvement. If the average number of female partners could be increased by 0.95 persons, the critical mass would be attained. Originality/value - The study provides the empirical evidence that increasing a CPA firm’s proportion of female partners positively impacts the firm’s profit performance. The findings serve a practical value as reference source for any further studies.