Accounting may be the language of business, but unless more students can see themselves represented in the profession, too few will choose to speak it. This matters now more than ever as the profession continues to face a narrow talent pipeline.
Based on the AICPA’s 2020 “Succession Survey Multi-Owner Report,” between 70% and 75% of certified public accountants (CPAs) expect to retire by around 2030, pointing to further compression in the accounting talent pool and pipeline.
Although the overall number of U.S. accounting students enrolled at colleges and universities has been on the rise recently, it’s still unclear if that uptick will turn into a trend or translate into more graduates and CPAs to fill current shortages. In fact, even with enrollments showing positive signs, an AICPA biennial report released last year said, “the number of U.S. students who graduated with a bachelor’s or a master’s degree in accounting continued to shrink, falling 6.6% in the 2023-2024 academic year from the previous year.”
Complicating the talent pipeline even further is the profession’s continued lack of diversity. Among the accounting students who do graduate, most are white. Despite the depictions in brochures at today’s career fairs, Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous students continue to be largely underrepresented inside most accounting firms. The makeup of the profession simply fails to match the public it claims to serve.
Suffice it to say, if the accounting and finance profession wishes to create a lasting pipeline, it’ll need to break some barriers that stand between it and students. Here are five obstacles and some potential strategies for addressing them.
Students often choose education majors after meeting someone already in a related field—they need to know the subject exists and how it might match their life plans. For some, that also means seeing someone who looks like them being represented in the career field. With Black CPAs representing only 2% of the CPA profession, few Black students reach college knowing a Black CPA. Hispanic students face similar CPA representation at 5%, and Indigenous students see even less CPA representation at 0.3%.
Beyond the lack of diverse representation among CPAs, the accounting profession has struggled to overcome its stereotype in pop culture. For instance, many of us may recall the movie “Ghostbusters,” in which actor Rick Moranis played a shy, awkward tax accountant. In the movie “Hitch,” actor Kevin James played a quiet accountant who needed help from a matchmaker to meet a woman. “The Accountant” portrayed actor Ben Affleck as a numbers man who sat somewhere on the autism spectrum. What students miss out on in these depictions are the more exciting storylines of what accountants actually do. For instance, are they even aware that forensic accountants solve approximately 44% of criminal cases by tracing cash and finding the money motive?
At the same time, high schools with tight budgets rarely offer accounting courses. While accounting arguably belongs among other STEM subjects, it generally sits outside of them. This missing early exposure, plus the old stereotype that only nerds oversee numbers, leaves a public relations mess the profession has been challenged to clean up.
Belonging predicts whether students stay in college and finish a major. The profession has long failed to reflect the wider population. Underrepresented students can scan their classrooms and CPA firm leadership web pages and see mostly the same types of faces. With Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous CPAs and partners still in single percentiles, the signal reaches students clearly even if unspoken: This profession was never made for people like them.
When Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous students don’t see accounting professors or practitioners who look like them, it can intensify the psychological hurdles they may already feel. Without professors or practitioners who share their backgrounds, students can feel the weight of imposter syndrome more sharply. They also miss quiet networks that help them, and they rarely have mentors who’ve lived their same experiences. Without that guidance, a small or short struggle can push them toward another major.
Mentorship also covers the unwritten rules of recruiting season. Etiquette dinners and dress workshops already exist at many schools, yet more remains to be done. Students need practice writing a strong one-page resume, building a LinkedIn profile with a solid photo, learning the line between business casual attire and business professional attire, making small talk on the phone, and sending correspondence. In my experience, first-generation and underrepresented students often meet these everyday tasks as new ground.
Making this issue even more complicated is that many accounting firms and businesses often recruit prospective hires based on whether they think job candidates will be a “fit” for the firm or company culture. However, these hiring practices can lend themselves to excluding candidates from underrepresented groups, especially if the population of the firm or company is majority white and affluent.
To level the playing field, the recruitment process must become transparent, structured, and intentional about evaluating actual potential rather than polished social capital.
Historically, introductory accounting courses have been intentionally designed as “weed-out” classes. These courses often rely on punishing grading curves, heavy memorization of debit and credit rules, and high-stakes exams designed to artificially restrict the number of students who can successfully declare the major. The effect hits every student but lands harder on first-generation and underrepresented students. Additionally, students from under-resourced schools often arrive without the same study habits or early exposure to financial terms. This “sink-or-swim” teaching practice therefore tests prior privilege more than long-term promise.
The 150 credit-hour requirement for CPA licensure long demanded an extra year of education or a master’s degree. However, what was meant to raise professional standards likely blocked many students from pursuing or obtaining the credential, especially those from underrepresented groups. A 2023 Center for Audit Quality study found that among business students who dropped the accounting major, 64% of Black students and 70% of Hispanic students specifically cited the 150 credit-hour requirement as a primary deterrent, compared to 56% of white students. For many first-generation and underrepresented students, the math simply doesn’t work. First-generation students, for example, often carry heavier loan loads and realize less family wealth to cover another year of school. Facing that cost, plus family duties or jobs, turns many individuals instead to a career in finance or tech where a standard bachelor’s degree often opens doors to higher paying roles more quickly.
The responsibility to drive all this change falls equally on academic institutions and the accounting and finance profession. Universities must audit their curricula and support systems, asking whether they’re truly instructing students or merely assessing their pre-existing academic and social privilege. Simultaneously, the accounting and finance profession must audit its recruiting pipelines, shifting away from the comfortable biases of “cultural fit” to actively seek candidates who bring a “cultural add.” Leaders in the profession must also view intentional inclusion not as a peripheral HR initiative but as a core business strategy.
When the barriers that deter underrepresented students are finally removed, the accounting and finance profession will not just look different—it’ll be fundamentally stronger. A profession that reflects the demographics of the businesses and communities it serves will be more innovative, more resilient, and far better equipped to navigate the complexities of a diverse and evolving global economy. After all, with CPAs in short supply, widening the talent pool is no longer optional—it’s a matter of the profession’s survival.
