A Bibliometric Review of Research on the Role of Mentoring in the Accounting Profession

Mentoring is frequently discussed as a developmental relationship in the accounting profession—supporting learning and professional development, professional socialisation, retention, and career progression—but the literature has grown across several sub-areas (like public practice, education, academic careers) and is not easy to read as a coherent whole. As mentoring has expanded to address contemporary challenges such as diversity and inclusion, global mobility, and knowledge transfer, a systematic synthesis of the field has become increasingly necessary.

This paper addresses the existing gap by providing a comprehensive bibliometric review of mentoringrelated research in the accounting profession. This study maps the mentoring scholarship in accounting using a bibliometric approach. A Web of Science search (topic: “mentoring” AND “accounting”) was refined to English-language journal articles in Business, Business Finance, Management and Economics, returning 224 articles published between 1985 and 2024. The analysis relies on bibliographic metadata and abstract text and uses VOSviewer to examine publication trends, keyword co-occurrence, co-authorship patterns, and country/institution networks.

Results indicate that mentoring research in accounting remained limited until the early 2000s and expanded substantially after 2010, with the strongest increase in the second half of the 2010s. Four major thematic clusters are identified, reflecting research on accounting education and professional socialisation; gender, diversity, and career development; global mobility and cross-cultural mentoring; and knowledge transfer within organisational settings.

The review consolidates a fragmented body of work and highlights gaps—particularly the relative scarcity of research in non-Western settings and the limited empirical attention to technology-enabled mentoring arrangements. By consolidating fragmented knowledge and mapping the development of mentoring research in accounting, this paper contributes a structured, evidence-based overview of the field and outlines a forward-looking research agenda. The study offers valuable insights for academics, practitioners, and policymakers seeking to design and evaluate mentoring practices aligned with the evolving needs of the accounting profession.