Implicit bias, defined as “attitudes or stereotypes that affect understanding, actions, or decisions in an unconscious manner,” is a pervasive social phenomenon. It is relevant in accounting education because of accounting’s stewardship role. According to FASB’s Conceptual Framework, a primary function of financial accounting is to help external stakeholders determine “how efficiently and effectively the entity’s management and governing board have discharged their responsibilities to use the entities resources”. The danger is that unconscious bias could result in nonwhite or female leaders being evaluated differently than their white male counterparts, even when the underlying financial performance is the same.

隐性偏见被定义为“以无意识的方式影响理解、行动或决定的态度或成见”，是一种普遍存在的社会现象。由于会计的管理性角色，所以它也存在于会计教育中。根据财务会计准则委员会的概念框架，财务会计的一个主要职能是帮助外部利益相关者确定“实体的管理层和董事会如何有效地履行他们的职责来使用实体资源”。危险的是，无意识的偏见可能会导致对非白人或女性领导人的评价与白人男性领导人不同，即使在基本财务表现相同的情况下。

In the context of the evaluation of CEO performance, this ever-present bias is particularly salient. Specifically, it is the tendency to allow the assessment of one specific trait possessed by an individual to be influenced by that individual’s other traits. One body of research suggests that gender plays a role in how CEOs are assessed. For example, a recent study found that female CEOs face more threats from activist investors than male CEOs. We can infer that implicit bias also comes into play when nonwhite CEOs are assessed.

在CEO绩效评价中，这种固有偏见尤为突出。具体地说，这是一种倾向，允许对一个人所拥有的某一特定特征的评估受到该个人的其他特征的影响。一项研究表明，性别在CEO的评价中起着重要作用。例如，近的一项研究发现，女性CEO比男性CEO面临更多来自激进投资者的威胁。我们可以推断，当非白人CEO被评估时，隐性偏见也会起作用。

Implicit Bias May Affect the Understanding of Accounting Information

隐性偏见可能影响对会计信息的理解

The naïve view of financial reporting regards accounting as objective, hard data with little room for subjectivity. But savvy financial statement users know that considerable judgment is required to interpret accounting information meaningfully. Recently, the City University of New York’s Baruch College published a study for incoming MBA students. Students assume the role of external stakeholders evaluating the tenure of McDonald’s first Black CEO. The case study is based on financial data as well as other information from the public record. Let students debate whether aspects of the firm’s financial performance, reflected in net income, are attributable to the CEO’s efforts or outside his control. To help students understand how implicit bias can affect their judgement on accounting information.

幼稚的财务报告观点会认为会计是客观的、硬数据，主观性空间很小。但精明的财务报表使用者知道，正确地解释会计信息需要相当的判断力。近，纽约城市大学巴鲁克学院（City University of New York's Baruch College）发表了一份针对即将入学的MBA学生的研究报告。学生们扮演着外部利益相关者的角色，去评估麦当劳首位黑人首席执行官的任期。该案例研究是基于财务数据以及来自公共记录的其他信息。让学生们讨论公司反映在净收入上的财务表现的各个方面，是由于首席执行官的努力还是在他的控制之外。以帮助学生了解隐性偏见如何影响他们对会计信息的判断。

Reducing the Impact of Implicit Bias in the Interpretation of Financial Information

减少财务信息解释中隐性偏见的影响

First, care should be taken to avoid selecting course and training materials that inadvertently perpetuate harmful societal biases. The economics profession has found itself under scrutiny for providing too few examples of female leaders in economic textbooks. The accounting profession should examine this as well. Business educators have a responsibility to present diverse examples.

首先，应注意避免选择会在不经意中造成有害社会偏见的课程和培训材料。因为在教科书中提供的女性领导人的例子太少，经济学界也曾受到审查。会计界也应对此进行审查。商务教育者有责任提供多样性的例子。

Second, students and practitioners should be made aware of the potential for implicit bias. External research shows that awareness of unconscious bias can lead to reversals in biased outcomes. Even a brief mention of the possibility of unconscious bias in an accounting course might be effective in prompting students to reflect on the possibility that they harbor biases. Incidents of implicit bias occur in contexts to which students can relate. For example, an empirical study found that female lecturers received lower ratings from business students than their male counterparts. Students can be asked to consider if it is likely that, after graduation, the same biases will remain in play when evaluating female managers.

第二，学生和实践者应该意识到潜在的隐性偏见。外部研究表明，意识到自己无意识的偏见，能让偏见的结果逆转。在会计课程中，即使简单地提到无意识偏见的可能性，也可能有效地促使学生反思自己是否存在偏见。与学生有关的隐性偏见事件也时有发生。例如，一项实证研究发现，与男讲师相比，女讲师从商学院学生那里得到的评价更低。可以要求学生们考虑，在毕业后，在评价女性管理者时，是否仍然存在同样的偏见。

A profession concerned with stewardship has a responsibility to combat racial and gender stereotypes. Such a proposal is not revolutionary—rather, it is a natural extension of the work the profession has traditionally done to address heuristic biases. Done skillfully, it will build critical thinking abilities that enhance accounting knowledge and improve its application. 

从事管理工作的职业有责任打击对种族和性别的陈规定型观念。这样的建议并不是革命性的，而是该行业传统上为解决启发式偏见而做的工作的自然延伸。熟练的运用这方面的技能，可以培养学生的批判性思维能力，增强会计知识，提高会计应用能力。

原创编辑：ICPA中国办事处