Professional choices for Black, Latino and American Indian college students can seem limited; the students are often more interested in popular or high-status occupations or professions they know well through their parents, family and friends.
Accounting continues to lack significant racial/ethnic diversity, which is a real challenge for accounting firms as they try to relate to increasingly diverse clients. Latinos comprise only 3 percent of the CPA profession and Blacks account for only 1 percent, according to the American Institute of CPAs. Data about new hires that were CPAs shows 4 percent were Latino, 4 percent were Black, and just 1 percent were American Indians.
Aggregate data submitted by the Big Four accounting firms for The 2010 Fair360, formerly DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversitysurvey show a similar lack of racial diversity in management positions, except for Asians. The data shows 3.9 percent are Black, 3.5 percent are Latino and just 0.22 percent are American Indian. Asians, in contrast, account for 15.7 percent of management positions at the Big Four. The Big Four arePricewaterhouseCoopers,Ernst & Young, DeloitteandKPMGNos. 3, 5, 8 and 29 on The 2011 Fair360, formerly DiversityInc Top 50 list, respectively.
