A partner from Ernst & Young’s Chicago office was in a unique position Thursday as she pitched the perks of working for an accounting behemoth to a room full of minority college students.
While touting the virtues of the accounting life, Dorothy Proux animatedly told her success story to more than 100 sophomores and juniors from 58 colleges and took questions from the crowd at the Discover Tax conference. Hoping to lure more minority and women graduates into accounting, specifically tax work, Ernst & Young has created the all-expenses-paid event five years ago. This year, it took place Jan. 5-7 at the Hilton Hotel in New York City.
“There really is a limited number of highly qualified underrepresented minorities that are majoring in accounting,” says Megan Goeltz, a recruiting leader for the company.
Goeltz says there isn’t enough information about the profession out there for underrepresented groups, and in turn there is stiff competition for the limited supply of minority accounting graduates. In 2009, the CPA Journal estimated that minorities represent about 8 percent of professionals in certified public accounting.
Ernst & Young currently actively recruits at about 200 universities nationwide and partners with the National Association of Black Accountants and other groups to extend its outreach. Since the company started hosting the Discover Tax conference in 2007, minority campus hires have increased from 11 percent to 16 percent. Minority partners and staff now represent about 30 percent of U.S.-based employees of Ernst & Young LLP, more than double the number a decade ago, according to company officials.
Ken Bouyer, director of inclusiveness recruiting at the Big Four firm, says diversity has improved in his 20-year career at the company. Bouyer notes that the company started to prioritize diversity in 1993 and 1994.
“What I’ve seen is that the makeup of the firm has changed,” he says. However, leaders are always looking to do better, Bouyer adds. There is plenty of room to bring new people on board, says Goeltz, noting that the company is looking to increase off-campus hires by 9 percent this year.
