The need for diversity and inclusion in accounting has long been recognized and, while the profession has made great strides toward inclusive practices, certain challenges remain. The underrepresentation of Hispanic people in finance is one area with room for improvement.
As a longtime advocate of diverse hiring and multilingual
offices, SDC CPAs follows the research and discussion surrounding the
structural and social barriers preventing minorities from pursuing careers in
accountancy.
Overcoming Obstacles
In an interview with CPA
Journal, the chief ethics and diversity officer of the National Association
of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA), Alfonzo Alexander detailed the issues
contributing to the underrepresentation of minorities in accounting.
The pipeline into the
profession for minorities, particularly African Americans and Hispanics, is
limited. There are not enough minority people starting the path because African
Americans and Hispanics are traditionally not familiar with the profession.
Studies show the profession is a generational profession. Most current CPAs
have a family member who is or was a CPA, and that is where the original
exposure came from.
In the minority
communities, where few have close family members in the profession, most of the
exposure to the profession comes from outside of the family. As an example,
though my own academic background is in business with an MBA, I did not
understand upon graduation what a CPA was. Many folks make career decisions in
life having heard about accountants as bookkeepers, but not about CPAs. This is
the situation with many in the inner city, where so many minorities live, which
is why becoming a CPA is seldom considered.
Beyond this exposure gap described by Alexander, lie structural obstacles in
the CPA track. The CPA track comes with significant expenses including a
bachelor’s degree, postgraduate education, CPA education hour requirements, CPA
exam prep courses, and the cost of the exam itself. These costs, with limited
funding support, act as a major deterrent for minority students to become CPAs.
Most
Hispanic students who graduate with an accounting degree opt to go straight
into their careers, rather than take on the expenses of the CPA track. Even if
these students go on to pursue the CPA designation later in their careers, it
is well documented that individuals with significant gaps between their
education and their CPA exam are less likely to pass the exam.
The
situation described by Alexander, in which minority populations have little to
no exposure to CPAs and careers in finance, illustrates the obstacle that
overshadows many others. Structural changes to the CPA track may be important
measures to expand opportunities to underrepresented populations, but the
impact of those changes would be minimal without initial outreach and exposure
to the profession.
Community
outreach can be an effective way for accounting firms to begin addressing this
issue in their communities. This can include presence at high school career
days and local chapters of industry advocacy organizations such as ALPFA. Firm
leadership can also work toward addressing representation issues by mentoring
junior employees and providing incentives for employees who pursue additional
certifications. SDC CPA uses these in-house practices alongside diverse,
multilingual hiring to create opportunities and bolster employees’ careers.
