The New York–based Big Four company, No. 5 in The DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity, recently held its Discover Ernst & Young event and the fourth annual Campus Diversity and Inclusiveness Roundtable in New York. 

From Talented Students … 

Discover Ernst & Young, which stems from the company’s former Discover Tax program that targets increasing interest in the tax sector, is a three-day seminar of workshops and activities, like a scavenger hunt. Its purpose is to engage the 150 freshmen, sophomores and juniors from 73 national colleges and universities who are primarily Black, Latino and American Indian. The goal is to inspire future accounting professionals for Ernst & Young’s talent pipeline. 

“I’m big on planting trees. From our talent-development pipeline, we have to invest early before students think about other careers,” said Ken Bouyer, Americas director of inclusiveness recruiting. Those initiatives also include students on the high-school level, as detailed in Rutgers Future Scholars Enhances Talent Pipelines With Corporate-Student Outreach.

At the kick-off experience, for which E&Y covered all the students’ expenses, Chairman and CEO Jim Turley directly engaged with students during a Q&A session along with other E&Y recruitment leaders, including Americas Campus Recruiting Director Dan Black and Americas Vice Chair of People Nancy Altobello, to spur excitement for the accounting profession. 

“The world is a very turbulent place. There is a lot of angst. In turbulent times there are going to be winners and losers, whether a country or a company,” said Turley. He discussed what it takes to be a winner—the mindset of an entrepreneur with an aggressive eye for opportunity. 

… To Schools That Educate 

The firm simultaneously hosted its fourth annual Campus Diversity and Inclusiveness Faculty Roundtable. University teachers and administrators from 15 schools discussed the business imperative for diversity and the need to create a culture of inclusiveness. For more about existing diversity gaps among college students, read American Universities Hinder Diversity Among STEM Students.

The roundtable sought to address three main objectives: why diversity is important to Ernst & Young, why it’s important to schools, and formulating an action plan that will move the needle.

Panelists included: Tony Anderson, vice chair and Midwest area managing partner, Ernst & Young; Denice Kronau, chief diversity officer, Siemens; and Bruce Jackson, senior counsel, Microsoft. Read How to Increase the Number of Black CPAs for recruiting and retention best practices. 

“We need you. We can’t do this without the pipeline of students,” said Bouyer during the introduction. He noted that 49 percent of Ernst & Young’s intern hires came from colleges represented in the audience. 

Blacks, Latinos and Asians make up about 32 percent of Ernst & Young’s North American workforce, and women make up 48 percent of its North American workforces. In 2011, Blacks, Latinos and Asians totaled 39 percent and women totaled 47 percent of all new North American hires. 

Global Implications 

Turley also addressed the administrators, discussing trends in global business and the economy and the business imperative for diversity and inclusiveness today. 

“The world is going through the most geopolitical economic shifts in history. Emerging markets are on fire … The slowest-growing economies in the world are the oldest, Europe and Japan,” he said. “The workers of tomorrow will be much more diverse, not just in the United States but everywhere in the world.” 

He encouraged the administrators to think about how they are going to educate students to have a broader global mindset so they can contribute to increasingly global teams of workers. It’s “building this pipeline for long-term success” that is the hardest thing, he said. 

For information on how to help fund scholarships for financially disadvantaged students, read about the DiversityInc Foundation.

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Most of the accounting profession recognizes the importance of attracting more Blacks to the field and helping them pass the CPA exam. Few, unfortunately, have a good track record in getting results. In 2002 and 2010, Blacks hired by CPA firms accounted for only 3 percent and 4 percent, respectively. Even slightly lower, the percentage of Black professional staff members of CPA firms was 2 percent in 2002 and 3 percent in 2010. As expected, this has resulted in the marginal representation of Blacks at the management level of CPA firms, with only 1 percent of Black partners in 2002 and less than 1 percent in 2010, according to the American Institute of CPAs.

I believe that this poor performance is due not to disinterest or resistance to the goal—as a whole, our profession means well and wants to do well—but we as a profession are struggling with fully understanding what works and what doesn’t.

How do accounting firms succeed at attracting more Blacks, helping them through the CPA barrier, and enabling them to advance to the leadership level? Research at the Center for Accounting Education and my many years of experience as a senior partner in a Big Four firm have taught me that the way to start is with low-hanging fruit and a strong commitment from the top to make a difference—not overnight but over the long run. For more on recruiting strategies, read “E&Y CEO Engages Students to Foster Diverse Pipeline of Accountants.”

Increasing the retention of all staff is a major challenge that the profession faces. Most firms continue to address this problem aggressively. As to their Black professionals, retention is even more difficult. The reason for this is very complex and not yet fully understood. What role does culture, subtle and unconscious biases, lack of advocates, etc., play in the high turnover? Continuing study of these areas is necessary. If the profession hopes to increase the number of Black CPAs on their staff, they need to make sure they retain more of their Black hires and eventually make them managers and partners in their firms. By doing this, they will, over the long run, improve the number of Blacks at the higher level. It will also make the profession more attractive to middle- and high-school students looking at the profession as a career.

Here are several practical, achievable strategies that firms of any size can follow:

• Discover what motivates young Black accountants in your firm. Don’t assume that what motivates you will motivate them. Use existing “minority” structures such as affinity groups and networks as a venue to help discover the unique motivating factors.
• Encourage Blacks to take the exam during the summer before they join their firms as a full-time hire. Thus, when they begin work, not only do they have the academic credentials necessary, they also have the professional certifications.
• Include certification as a measure in employee evaluation and aggressively monitor progress. For employees who don’t take or pass the exam, discuss during the counseling session any hurdles standing in the way of the exam and develop an action plan to address them.
• Assign a CPA mentor for all new hires who are not already a CPA. The primary role of the mentor is to encourage the new hire to pass the exam and answer any questions they may have.
• Offer to pay for CPA review courses as well as fees to sit for the exam the first time. Reimburse candidates when they enroll; don’t wait for them to pass the exam. The risks inherent in early reimbursement are well worth the long-term benefits of a highly qualified staff.
• Give candidates time off to study and sit for the exam.
• Provide a bonus or pay increase, and other recognition, if an employee becomes a CPA within a defined time period. Many firms already do this, but for those firms that do not, I strongly recommend that they incorporate such a policy.

Performance-Evaluation Process

The performance-evaluation process is one of the most important areas that firms need to review to ensure that it is not a hindrance to the retention of their Black staff members. Performance evaluations significantly impact assignments, individual morale, compensation and one’s ability to assume increased responsibility. What can be done? In a paper entitled “Retaining African Americans in the Profession: A Success Model,” I and Leslie Traub of Cook Ross wrote the following suggestions to improve the performance-evaluation process of Black associates:

Performance Manager/Engagement Manager/Partner

• Examine conscious and unconscious beliefs about people whose cultural background is different from theirs, and how these beliefs can negatively or positively impact Black associates’ evaluations and assignments.
• Examine input into associates’ performance for bias.
• Ensure diverse input into evaluations.
• Look for patterns of commentary by seniors, managers or other influencers about Blacks. Use data as a way to gently probe about larger bias issues. Offer concrete solutions to moving past bias. Many times evaluators of Black associates are afraid to provide honest suggestions as to the areas of weakness that should be improved upon. This cannot be allowed to happen.
• Mentors must be aggressive but honest advocates.

Associates/Senior Associates

• Use your relationship channels to share your concerns about performance ratings; be open to telling your story and experience on engagements, and understand that others have their story too. Try to be as dispassionate and factual as possible about your experience. Remember that you too have unconscious biases that might impact how you react to a suggestion as to how improvements can be made to your performance.
• Clearly communicate needs and limitations about work opportunities to your engagement manager and partner. Look for opportunities for flexibility.
• Seek out mentors who will serve as your advocate. Remember that they do not need to be of the same race or gender.

Increase the Number of Students Majoring in Accounting

• Increase the profession’s visibility and viability with younger people by supporting outreach efforts in Black communities. For example, Rutgers Future Scholars worked with Ernst & Young to host a learning event for high-school students. Encourage your successful Black employees, specifically managers and partners, to become more active with younger employees from traditionally underrepresented groups and in recruiting and outreach.
• Join in marketing the accounting profession among high-school and college students in your community. Drive home the message that a CPA is a board-certified professional like a doctor or an attorney.
• Incorporate into all new-hire orientations the message that an accountant’s education is not complete until he or she is a CPA.
• Provide scholarships to Black accounting students. These scholarships should incorporate the goal that the recipient agrees to take and pass the CPA exam within a certain time after graduation.

In the end, it’s up to the individual to choose the career, choose to succeed and advance in it, and choose to become a CPA. But as firms, we can and must make that choice more desirable—and more attainable—for Blacks.

For more on existing diversity gaps among student populations, read “American Universities Hinder Diversity Among STEM Students.”

Frank K. Ross is the director of the Howard University School of Business Center for Accounting Education and a visiting professor of accounting, teaching auditing and ethics. In 1968, Ross was one of the nine cofounders and the first president of the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA). In December 2003, he retired from KPMG after providing more than 38 years of service. Prior to retiring, he was the Mid-Atlantic area managing partner for Audit and Risk Advisory Services and managing partner of the Washington, D.C., offices. Ross was also a member of KPMG’s board of directors and chairman of the KPMG Foundation board of directors.

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Rutgers Future Scholars

Jamira Riddick loves math but didn’t want anything to do with accounting. “I always thought accounting would be boring,” she says.

The junior at New Brunswick Health Sciences Technology High School and a member of the Rutgers Future Scholars Class of 2017 visited Ernst & Young, No. 6 in The 2012 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity, for an event in the New York office. The day was for Rutgers Future Scholars and was intended to change the minds of these youngsters about accounting. Luke Visconti, DiversityInc CEO and co-chair of the fundraising committee for Rutgers Future Scholars, attended. He is also on the Rutgers board of trustees.

Scholars listened to interns discuss their high-school and college experiences, talked to partners in financial services about what a career in accounting can offer and had interactive sessions on communication styles, leadership and goal setting. The exposure worked on Riddick. “They made me think of accounting as something that could be fun, you just have to make it fun,” she says.

If she becomes an accountant, Riddick would like to work at Ernst & Young.

Over two days in July, the firm hosted nearly 100 Rutgers Future Scholars, bright seventh-graders from Newark, Camden, New Brunswick, and Piscataway, N.J., selected to receive college preparation and mentoring. After high school, students admitted to Rutgers University receive scholarships. There are more than 800 scholars in grades 8–10.

“We work with a lot of universities around diversity and inclusiveness. It’s really important to the firm,” says Gioia Pisano, inclusiveness recruiting leader at Ernst & Young.

Diversity in Accounting

The event was part of the firm’s efforts to diversify the pipeline of talent it can recruit from—and to diversify the ranks of accounting professionals overall.

Latinos comprise only 3 percent of the CPA profession, and Blacks account for only 1 percent, according to the American Institute of CPAs. Of new CPA hires, 4 percent were Latino, 4 percent were Black, and just 1 percent was American Indian.

Aggregate data submitted by the Big Four accounting firms for The 2011 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity survey shows a similar lack of racial diversity in new hires, except for Asian Americans. The data shows 6.4 percent are Black, 5.2 percent are Latino and just 0.6 percent are American Indian. Asian Americans, in contrast, account for 21.1 percent of new hires at the Big Four. The Big Four are PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, Deloitte and KPMG, Nos. 1, 6, 8 and 22 on the DiversityInc Top 50 list, respectively.

“These young people being exposed to organizations and corporations like Ernst & Young, interacting with professionals, engaging in conversations with them, allows them to envision themselves in places just like this,” says Aramis Gutierrez, director for Rutgers Future Scholars.

Benefits to Students, Ernst & Young

The firm had an effect on more students than Riddick. “I think it’s wonderful that they’re giving high-school students like myself the opportunity to experience what goes on in the actual building,” says Zaire Gorrell, a junior at New Brunswick High School.  ”They’re actually giving us an opportunity to come here and learn, hands on, what you can do at Ernst & Young.”

Masiel Torres, a junior at New Brunswick Health Sciences Technology High School, was trying to decide between a career in marketing or accounting, and she may choose accounting. “It seems like a very interesting job, something you grow in and something where I can challenge myself every day,” she says.

Pisano says that, long term, programs like this can help the firm deliver results to global clients. “Our clients are asking for diverse teams and they know that diverse teams bring great solutions,” she says. “It’s imperative that we go out and make sure that everyone is aware of the opportunities within accounting so that we can serve our global clients … Hopefully, some of these students will eventually work for Ernst & Young.”

Gutierrez agreed. “Ernst & Young benefits from just simply having the opportunity to be exposed to 1,000 individuals that we have in our program; it’s a pipeline of untapped talent that not many other organizations or corporations have access to,” he says.

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