Increasing the Pool of Black CPAs
Howard University teams with accounting firms to find ways to appeal to new talent and retain seasoned professionals
Sources: blackenterprise.com, washingtonpost.com
For an industry focused on the veracity of numbers, one in particular has prompted a bit of soul-searching: Only 1 percent of CPAs in the United States are black, and the numbers for Hispanics and other minorities are similarly low.
Cordier and 119 other first-year accountants and auditors got a boost toward nudging that percentage upward this week during a six-day leadership program sponsored by Howard University’s Center for Accounting Education.
The Big Four, as well as a few of the major black-owned accounting firms, are helping pay for the event at the Westfields Marriott Hotel and Conference Center in Chantilly. They also are providing speakers and mentors who offer tips on how to network, how to deal with bosses and career pitfalls, and, crucially, how to pass the CPA exam. Similar to the bar exam for lawyers, the CPA test qualifies people to, for example, perform certified audits.
“Studying for the exam is crucial,” said Allen Boston, Ernst & Young’s director of campus and diversity recruiting, imploring his firm’s “Staff 1″ employees, those who have started their accounting careers but have yet to take the test.
Once again, numbers tell a disheartening story: Even though blacks constitute 12 percent of students enrolled in accounting courses, they make up only 8 percent of accounting graduates and only about 4 percent of those who sit for the CPA exam. According to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the industry’s leading professional organization, blacks constitute only 1 percent of their membership. Asians and Pacific Islanders make up 4 percent and Hispanics represent 2 percent.
The number has remained stagnant for almost a decade, while the representation of blacks in comparable professions such as law has inched slowly upward.
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While the need for new accounting talent grows in the wake of corporate wrongdoing, African American representation in the field remains low. However, one partnership is aiming to change that.
Howard University minority accounting firms and associations, and several of the nation’s largest accounting firms have teamed up to increase the number of African Americans who enter the field as well as retention.
?We’re About Success!? a week-long event from June 26 to July 1 in suburban Virginia has brought together new accounting hires and experienced veterans to give newcomers technical and interpersonal skills that will aid their advancement.
A recent study by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants found 5% of new graduates hired by CPA firms between 2003 and 2004 were African American. While up 2 percentage points from the following period, white applicants made up 81% of new hires from 2003 to 2004.
Organizers say the event is a first step, and plan to replicate it at other historically black colleges and universities.
?This program is unique,? says George S. Willie, managing partner of Bert Smith & Co., a Washington, D.C.-based African American accounting firm. ?This is the first time we have confronted what we think are the problems with high turnover and low retention. If we can keep enough minorities and African Americans in the profession, we could get them to stay and advance.?
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