American Accounting Firms & Board Gender Diversity

Dataset Description
This dataset examines the relationship between Board Gender Diversity (BGD) and the performance of medium- to large-sized American Accounting Firms (AAF). It is constructed from the Orbis database (Moody’s Analytics) and includes multilevel data at the individual, firm, and city levels.

Sample coverage: 30,647 top management team (TMT) members, 1,091 accounting firms, and 553 U.S. cities.

Firm criteria: Firms with ≥50 employees (medium and large firms).

Key variables:

Firm performance (Return-on-Talent, ROT)

Proportion of female board members

Female partners in firms

Global service portfolios

Sustainability service portfolios

Firm age, revenue, board size, ownership type, partnership structure, narratives (product, trade), and city-level identifiers.

Design: Multilevel (individual–firm–city) structure, enabling analysis of gender diversity, service portfolios, and performance outcomes.

The dataset provides a comprehensive population-level view of U.S. accounting firms (excluding small firms), and is suitable for research on governance, diversity, organizational performance, and sustainability practices