Abstract:
Background– There is a global awareness in which companies tend to be more altruistic and begin to strip off the egoistic face of their existence. In the international context, the IASB (International Accounting Standard Board, through IAS and IFRS, has developed financial standards that accommodate more humanistic standards. This initiative, in the context of Indonesia, also has been adopted, as seen in Indonesian Financial Accounting Standard (PSAK) 24 on Employee Benefit where the standard is developed to be more humanistic from time to time.
Purpose and Methodology–The purpose of this study is investigates to what extent the more humanistic face of PSAK 24 has driven the practice of accounting in Indonesia to contribute in alleviating the prevailing gender pay gap. The study employs a qualitative research approach and content analysis method. In order to reveal the findings clearer, the study uses a blended CSR and Stakeholders theories as theoretical lenses.
Findings– Although PSAK 24 has been accommodating more social values in its standard, in practice, however, the standard has not contributed more in alleviating gender pay gap. It was indicated by the annual and sustainability reports of state-owned Indonesian oil company which lagged behind than its ASEAN counterpart, like Malaysian state-owned oil company. It was also confirmed by the data released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) that put Indonesia at the bottom, among 10 countries in ASEAN region due to its big gender pay gap.
Research Limitations – Limitation of this study largely used secondary data instead of primary data
Originality/value – The study presents the evolve of humanistic face of financial accounting standard and its interplay with the praxis that is rarely investigated in Indonesian context.