Dr Kathy Rao is a Senior Lecturer in Accounting in UniSA Business. She has a PhD in Corporate Social Responsibility focusing on gender diversity in Australian listed companies. She is a full member of CPA Australia and is committed to the provision of high-quality education to her students in the areas of both financial accounting and management accounting.
Kathy is undertaking research that has real world impact. Her research expertise includes CSR and Management & Governance, seeking to contribute to the development of the social and economic conditions of society locally and globally. Specifically, her research focusses on issues of power imbalance and includes work on gender diversity and modern slavery.... Read more
About me
Dr Kathy Rao is a Senior Lecturer in Accounting in UniSA Business. She has a PhD in Corporate Social Responsibility focusing on gender diversity in Australian listed companies. She is a full member of CPA Australia and is committed to the provision of high-quality education to her students in the areas of both financial accounting and management accounting.
Kathy is undertaking research that has real world impact. Her research expertise includes CSR and Management & Governance, seeking to contribute to the development of the social and economic conditions of society locally and globally. Specifically, her research focusses on issues of power imbalance and includes work on gender diversity and modern slavery. Moreover, she contributes to a number of projects on regional Australia, contributing to enhancing social and economic outcomes for rural business owners.
Kathy has published her research in high ranking international academic journals including Journal of Business Ethics, Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal and Meditari Accountancy Research. Her professional publications includes articles in Acuity Magazine and Company Director Magazine. Her research has been recognised via the 2016 highly commended paper in the Emerald Literati Awards, and she has more than 1000 Google Scholar citations. Her recent publication on the barriers to women on boards received significant media coverage including social media, radio and television interviews.
Kathy was recently awarded funding from the Regional Australia Institute to investigate disaster recovery pathways for businesses in regional Australia which has resulted in strength-based recommendations for action across all levels of government.
Kathy is currently supervising three HDR students who are undertaking projects related to workplace gender equality and CSR, including: board diversity and CSR; women entrepreneurs in regional Australia; and sustainable entrepreneurs and Corporate social Responsibility (CSR).
About me
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 18/04/2024 |
From ashes to adversity: Lessons from KI’s business recovery from bushfires, pandemic, https://theislanderonline.com.au/news/2024/04/18/from-ashes-to-adversity-lessons-from-kis-business-recovery-from-bushfires-pandemic/ |
| 10/10/2020 |
Boys' Club': Is this bias hurting your boardroom?, https://www.hcamag.com/au/specialisation/diversity-inclusion/boys-club-is-this-bias-hurting-your-boardroom/235843 |
| 07/10/2020 |
‘It’s an old boys’ club’: gender diversity on Australian boards, https://www.indianlink.com.au/features/kathy-rao-on-the-lack-of-gender-diversity-on-australian-boards/ |
| 27/09/2020 |
Big business’ bad behaviour driven by a lack of board diversity, https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/finance-news/markets-and-shares/2020/09/27/board-diversity-bad-decisions/ |
| 24/08/2018 |
Law passed to Fight Modern slavery, https://www.acuitymag.com/business/laws-passed-to-fight-modern-slavery |
| 21/08/2017 |
Modern slavery and how accountants can fight it, https://www.acuitymag.com/business/how-modern-slavery-impacts-big-brands-and-accountants |
About me
Doctor of Philosophy Flinders University
Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) Flinders University
Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting) Flinders University
Certified Practising Accountant CPA Australia
Lecturer, UniSA Business, University of South Australia ( 2016-present)
Casual teaching staff, Fliders Business School, Australia (2009-2015)
Research Assistant, Flinders Business School, Australia (2010-2010)
AFAANZ Grant 2022-2023
Research
Excludes commercial-in-confidence projects.
Gender-related disclosure in modern slavery statements in Australia, Accounting And Finance Association of Australia And New Zealand Limited, 07/07/2022 - 30/06/2025
What have been the recovery pathways for businesses in affected rural and regional communities? Two case studies, Regional Australia Institute Limited, 15/06/2020 - 30/11/2020
Research in Progress:
Gender Diversity on Corporate Boards and CSR
Modern Slavery in Supply Chains
Gender and Modern slavery in business context
Research
Research outputs for the last seven years are shown below. Some long-standing staff members may have older outputs included. To see earlier years visit ORCID, ResearcherID or Scopus
Open access indicates that an output is open access.
| Year | Output |
|---|---|
| 2024 |
Open access
6
4
|
| 2024 |
Open access
43
|
| 2022 |
Open access
18
16
|
| 2021 |
Open access
36
35
49
|
| 2019 |
Open access
82
68
18
|
| Year | Output |
|---|---|
| 2024 |
Open access
|
| 2024 |
Open access
|
| Year | Output |
|---|---|
| 2025 |
|
| 2024 |
Open access
5
5
|
| 2024 |
Open access
6
4
|
| 2024 |
Open access
1
1
|
| 2024 |
371
|
| 2024 |
Open access
43
|
| 2022 |
Open access
18
16
|
| 2021 |
Open access
36
35
49
|
| 2019 |
Open access
82
68
18
|
| 2016 |
693
610
112
|
| 2016 |
214
95
|
| 2012 |
290
173
|
| Year | Output |
|---|---|
| 2016 |
Open access
|
| 2015 |
Open access
|
| 2013 |
Open access
|
Conferences
Rao, K, and Tilt, CA. 2018, “Gender Diversity and CSR Decisions: Perspectives from Australian Boards - Preliminary Evidence”, Proceedings of the European Accounting Association (EAA) conference, 31 May – 2 June 2018, Milan, Italy.
Rao, K, and Tilt, CA 2015, 'Board diversity and CSR reporting: Australian evidence', in Dumay, John, and Hazelton, James (editors) (eds), Australasian Centre on Social and Environmental Accounting Research Conference, Academic Publishers and Publishing International, pp. 116-125.
Professional Publications:
Christ K. & Rao, K, ‘Aussie businesses not ready to tackle modern slavery’ UniSA Enterprise Magazine, published on July 2019
Rao, K.& Tilt, ‘Women on corporate boards & CSR’, UniSA Enterprise Magazine, published on June 2019.
Christ K, Buritt R & Rao K.(2018) “Laws passed to fight modern slavery”, Acuity (Online).
Christ K, Buritt R, Rao K. and Spence C. (2017) “What you need to do about modern slavery reporting”, Company Director Magazine, November 2017 issue, pp.54.
Christ K, Buritt R & Rao K. (2017) “Corporate reporting on modern slavery”, Acuity (Online).
Accounting Forum Conference, Special Issue, 2024 - Guest Co-editor
Emerald Literati Awards - Highly Commended Award for the paper, 2017 “Board diversity and CSR reporting: an Australian study” Meditari Accountancy Research.
External engagement & recognition
| Organisation | Country |
|---|---|
| Australian National University | AUSTRALIA |
| Flinders University | AUSTRALIA |
| Hashemite University | JORDAN |
| Torrens University Australia | AUSTRALIA |
| University of South Australia | AUSTRALIA |
External engagement & recognition
| Engagement/recognition | Year |
|---|---|
MemberCPA Australia |
2021 |
Editorial Board MemberAccounting Forum |
2020 |
Emerald Literati Awards - Highly Commended Award for the paper¿Board diversity and CSR reporting: an Australian study¿ Meditari Accountancy Research |
2017 |
MemberCPA Australia |
2017 |
MemberCPA Australia |
2016 |
Committee member and reviewer - the UniSA Business Negligible Risk Ethics Committee
UniSA Business Teaching Excellence Award:
Teaching & student supervision
Teaching & student supervision
Supervisions from 2010 shown
| Thesis title | Student status |
|---|---|
| Accounting for modern slavery: the case of Kenya | Current |
| Modern slavery in the Ghanaian cocoa industry | Current |
| The role of sustainable intrapreneurs in promoting corporate sustainability and sustainability reporting in India | Current |
| Board of director composition and corporate social responsibility: a case of Jordan pre- and post- the Arab Spring | Completed |
| Intrafamily family firm successors' perceptions of and actions towards post-succession legitimacy | Completed |
| Sustainability accounting and reporting (SAR) practices in achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) a case study of regional-owned enterprises (ROEs) in Indonesia | Completed |
