EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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The National
Association of Black Accountants
(NABA) and the Howard University
School of Business Center for Accounting
Education (CAE) in June 2007 convened the
CPA Examination Summit, a gathering
designed to identify ways to fill the
pipeline of future CPAs with
African-American accountants who are ready
and willing to sit for the CPA exam.
NABA and the CAE will
convene a second summit in June
at NABA’s annual convention in Atlanta,
where the discussion will focus on
identifying next steps and soliciting
commitments from participants willing to
take the lead in working toward the stated
goals.
The CAE is sponsoring
an academic study on barriers
African Americans face to becoming CPAs.
Results of that study are scheduled to be
presented at the second summit.
Frank K. Ross, CPA, is a
visiting professor of accounting at Howard
University’s School of Business and is
director of the school’s Center for
Accounting Education. His e-mail address
is
f_ross@howard.edu. Leslie
Traub is president and CEO of
Cook Ross Inc. Her e-mail address is traub@cookross.com
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One of the great joys of being an
accounting professor is hearing a former student
say the following words: “I have passed all parts
of the CPA exam.” That message is likewise
heartening for CPAs in practice.
Encouraging more young people to become CPAs is
crucial for the profession. A majority of CPA
firms outside of sole practitioners identified
finding qualified staff at all levels as a top
concern in the 2007 AICPA Private Companies
Practice Section’s Top Management of an
Accounting Practice (MAP) Issues Survey .
The AICPA has named people as a leading priority
in its fiscal 2009–2011 strategic plan. The plan
calls for leading the profession in embracing a
changing work force environment by attracting,
educating and nurturing CPAs throughout their
careers and into retirement. The National
Association of Black Accountants (NABA) in 2007
launched “CPA Bound,” an advocacy initiative
supported by the Howard University School of
Business Center for Accounting Education (CAE).
The program is designed to address one important
segment of the CPA staffing challenge—the barriers
to certification faced by African Americans.
One of the first steps in that initiative was a
June 2007 gathering of thought leaders at a
one-day summit designed to identify ways to fill
the pipeline of future CPAs with African-American
accountants who are ready and willing to sit for
the exam. This article summarizes key
recommendations that emerged from the discussions.
The ranks of African-American CPAs are
small. According to an AICPA survey, African
Americans comprised just 1% of CPAs employed by
public accounting firms in 2004, the most recent
year for which figures are available.
NABA’s own membership rolls reflect the need to
grow the number of African Americans in the
profession. NABA is perceived by many to be a
leading organization for African-American
financial executives, yet only approximately 23%
of NABA’s professional members are CPAs.
The CPA exam summit—part of NABA’s annual
conference in Philadelphia—drew approximately 45
participants representing public accounting,
industry, academia, CPA exam preparation
companies, state societies and professional
associations. The participants spent the day
identifying and prioritizing their concerns,
regrets and best practices. A wide-ranging summary
of the summit published by the CAE, “Insights Into
Increasing the Number of African American CPAs,”
is available on NABA’s Web site, www.nabainc.org.
Along with highlights from the summit
discussion, this article includes some insights
from the Center for Accounting Education’s third
annual leadership skills development program,
“We’re About Success!” The program, which drew
more than 100 African Americans with nine months
or less experience in public accounting, focused
on developing skills necessary to be successful in
the profession, as well as tools and skills needed
to pass the CPA exam.
KEY IMPROVEMENTS—LOW HANGING
FRUIT Summit participants proposed
many ideas, including some long-term efforts that
require focus, resources, and accountability, and
solutions that cross lines of responsibility
between the groups represented at the meeting. The
“low hanging fruit” that follows is within reach
for many practitioners and other stakeholders:
1. Support new African-American hires in
their efforts to pass the CPA exam by adopting the
following best practices. The recommendations
ideally would apply to all young accountants,
regardless of race, but were specifically
identified as ways to increase the numbers of
African-American CPAs:
Discover what would motivate the
young African-American accountants in your firm to
take the exam and pass it within a certain time.
If you are not part of Generation Y—by many
definitions those born after 1977—don’t assume
that what motivates you will motivate them. Use
existing minority structures such as affinity
groups and networks as a venue to identify
motivational factors and to encourage African
Americans to take the exam.
Incorporate certification as one
performance measure in the annual employee
evaluation process and aggressively monitor
candidates’ progress. For employees who don’t take
or pass the exam, discuss any hurdles standing in
the way of the exam as part of their evaluation
process.
Assign a CPA mentor for all new
hires.
Offer to pay for CPA review courses
as well as the fees for candidates to sit for the
exam the first time they take it. Don’t wait for
the employee to pass the exam before reimbursing
the fees associated with pursuing the
certification. While there is always risk
associated with investing in an employee who may
leave the firm after becoming a CPA, that risk is
well worth the long-term benefits of a highly
trained staff.
Give candidates time off to sit for
the exam and include study time as part of the
candidates’ work schedules.
Provide recognition for new CPAs.
Provide a bonus or pay increase if an
employee becomes a CPA within a certain time after
joining the firm.
Study the trends among candidates
within your firm who graduate and pass the exam.
Learn from their approaches, and disseminate what
you learn among new hires.
Learn about your own biases and
prejudices through diversity training and by
building an inclusive corporate culture, and
become aware of whether your own behavior could
negatively affect the work and exam experience of
African-American employees. 2. Increase
the visibility and viability of the profession
with younger generations by supporting outreach
efforts in African-American communities. Encourage
your successful African-American employees,
specifically managers and partners, to become more
visible and active with younger minority employees
as well as in the recruiting and outreach
processes. 3. Widen the marketing of the
accounting profession among high school and
college students in your community to drive home
the message that a CPA is a board-certified
professional like a doctor or an attorney.
4. Incorporate into all college and new
employee orientations the message that an
accountant’s education is not complete, nor is an
accountant truly a “professional,” until he or she
is properly credentialed, and that the CPA is
the most important credential for an
accountant. 5. Many companies,
organizations and societies provide annual
scholarships to African-American 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.
TAKING THE MESSAGE TO CAMPUS
When discussion shifted from what employers
can do to how colleges and universities can
encourage more African-American students and
recent graduates to take the exam, summit
participants recommended that accounting programs
should make exam preparation a clear objective.
Program leaders should consider incorporating CPA
examination review courses into the curriculum as
electives and encourage students to take the exam
prior to graduation or immediately thereafter.
Not all accounting faculty are CPAs, nor
should they be. The sense, however, among the
summit participants was that if more faculty could
speak from personal experience about the exam and
the value of the CPA credential, they would
reinforce the importance of sitting for the CPA
exam and weave examples from the exam into
classroom discussion.
NEXT STEPS There was
initial agreement among summit participants that
their discussions represented the beginning of a
long-term planning process that would involve and
affect institutions, accounting firms,
associations, societies and academia. A
reliable baseline must be established to measure
progress, and a smaller, focused subgroup of the
summit participants must continue to gather
information, identify resources and establish
accountability for moving forward on the broad
scope of recommendations. Summit
participants recognized that NABA provides a
structure for continuing the conversation. The
President’s Advisory Council within NABA has been
charged with studying issues raised by the 2007
summit. NABA and the CAE will convene a second
summit in June at NABA’s annual convention in
Atlanta, where the discussion will focus on
identifying next steps and soliciting commitments
from participants willing to take the lead in
working toward the stated goals. The CAE
is sponsoring an academic study on barriers
African Americans face to becoming CPAs. Results
of that study are scheduled to be presented at the
second summit. It will take focused
individual and collective efforts to increase the
number of African-American CPAs. State societies
and the AICPA can play a role by stressing the
importance of the CPA credential, especially to
targeted groups, and showcasing African Americans
in leader-ship positions.
| AICPA
RESOURCES
JofA articles
“
Value Proposition,” June 07, page 82
“Understanding
the Best and Brightest,” Nov. 06,
page 41
“A
History of Determination,” Oct. 05,
page 71
“African
American Students and the CPA Exam,”
May 05, page 60
Web sites
AICPA Minority Initiatives
Committee, www.aicpa.org/members/div/career/mini/index.htm
AICPA Work/Life and Women’s
Initiatives Committee, www.aicpa.org/Career+Development+and+Workplace+Issues/Women+in+the+Profession/
Young CPA Network, www.aicpa.org/YoungCPANetwork
OTHER RESOURCES
Web sites
The National Association of
Black Accountants, www.nabainc.org
Howard University School of
Business Center for Accounting Education,
www.bschool.howard.edu/Programs/specialprograms/centerforaccountinged/CAE.htm
Diversity Section of the
American Accounting Association, www.aaahq.org
Diversity Pipeline Alliance,
www.diversitypipeline.org | |