FROM COMPLETE EXCLUSION TO MINIMAL INCLUSION - AFRICAN-AMERICANS AND THE PUBLIC ACCOUNTING INDUSTRY, 1965-1988

African Americans have always been severely under-represented among ce rtified public accountants. After active exclusion for the first sever al decades of this century, in 1965 African Americans comprised only 0 .1% of CPAs. Twenty-five years later, African Americans comprised clos e to 1% of CPAs, still far below their 12% representation in the popul ation. This paper examines the accounting industry's response to the c hange in public expectations regarding equal employment opportunity th at followed the civil rights movement. The study reveals that, in the late 1960s and early 1970s when support for equal opportunity was at i ts peak, the industry ended its complete exclusion and engaged in some visible efforts to recruit African Americans. However, even these min imal efforts waned with the decline in emphasis on fair employment in the 1980s. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd