Why Are African American Students Still Not Majoring in Accounting?

The Importance of Early Impressions

George Violette, PhD, CPA, and Carol L. Cain, PhD

In BriefDespite decades of efforts by accounting leaders to improve the representation of African Americans in the profession, the percentage of African American students graduating with degrees in accounting still lags far behind their representation in the U.S. population; recent years have even seen a relative decline. The authors surveyed African American students on what attracted them to accounting as a major and a career, presenting the results and providing recommendations for accounting programs, firms, and individuals CPAs to remedy this state of affairs. Among the most important factors in getting African American students to major in accounting were being engaged by the first introductory college accounting course and knowing an accountant who served as a role model.