Promotion And Retention Of African American Accountants In The 21st Century US Public Accounting Profession: A Summary Of Findings And A Call For Action

Helping Disadvantaged Students: Findings from the Thuthuka Programme

“…A dedicated support programme director appears to be critical and this is in line with Butler's (2014) recommendation that a 'case manager' be appointed. Based on support drawn from the literature (Foma, 2013;Marshall, 2014;Stewart et al, 2011) and the shortcomings identified and voiced by participants in this study, it appears that formal guidelines for the mentoring programmes should be established and these should also be formally monitored and evaluated Academic support These aspects include tutoring (small groups), other education enrichment activities, peer learning and continuous monitoring (Butler, 2014;Jones et al, 2008). Academic programmes could be focussed on enhancing skills development, which for Thuthuka students appears to be most necessary in IT, communication and some higher-order skills.…”

“…Further barriers experienced by blacks in the workplace are transport problems, racism in the workplace, a lack of mentor-ship and black role models, an identifiable lack of commitment to their development by the top managements of auditing firms, a lack of sensitivity for the social and logistical pro-blems of black trainees and excessive idle time while on audits because they are not given sufficiently challenging tasks (Rawana, 1996;Wiese, 2006). These correlate well with the obstacles identified as hindering the progress of AfricanAmericans in the US public accounting profession: the ill-preparedness of AfricanAmericans (who had been exposed to the underfinanced public school system); their lack of familiarity with business and finance that arises from a history of exclusion from these fields; their perceptions of being isolated from peers, supervisors and key social networks; their work assignments and experiences not being conducive to advance-ment, and their personnel evaluations being perceived as inaccurate and negative reflec-tions of their performance (Stewart et al, 2011).…”

“…Participants perceived the Thuthuka programme in a positive light and believed that it not only positively impacted their education paths towards becoming professionals, but that it also transformed their lives. They referred to the well-defined mentorship programmes, peer group interaction and tutor assistance as key features of the programme, features that correspond closely with those of programmes run by the US National Association of Black Accountants (Ross & Traub, 2008;Stewart et al, 2011) and include suggestions made by Butler (2014) and Foma (2013). Although discussions on these features elicited positive comments, some shortcomings were identified.…”

“…Although the process of closure is evident in accounting professions elsewhere, in the South African context it uniquely relates to the majority of the population (South African Institute of Chartered Accountants [SAICA], 2013a;Statistics SA, 2011). It does not represent a marginalised minority such as the African-Americans in the USA (Foma, 2013;Stewart, Wells, & Ross, 2011), Chinese accounting graduates in Australia (James & Otsuka, 2009), Chinese and Maori accountants in New Zealand (Kim, 2004;McNicholas, Humphries, & Gallhofer, 2004) or Scottish chartered accountants (CAs) apparently being predominantly from the middle and upper classes (McPhail, Paisey, & Paisey, 2010).…”

A Knowledge Synthesis of Anti‐Black Racism in Accounting Research*†

“…The Supply-Side Fallacy Stewart et al (2011) find that Black CPAs account for fewer than 1% of the partners in major firms in the United States (this number deteriorated to 0.3% in 2019 according to a survey conducted by the AICPA) and offer two supply-side explanations. First, there is a disproportionately low number of African American accountants in the management pipeline.…”