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soc09
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Posted: 14 Oct 2009 at 22:52 \| IP Logged

Could anybody share their observations regarding the number of minorities in Big 4 offices you work at or visited? I am just curious why there are so few african americans working for Big 4...I did not see that many Hispanics or Asians either...Or they were from ridiculously expensive private schools

daliacpa
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Posted: 15 Oct 2009 at 01:28 \| IP Logged

soc09 wrote:

I think that Big 4 tries hard to recruit minorities. The only things that I think prevent them to hire more minorities is partly two things, lack of traditional eduction that minorities received and confidence thing. (Before anyone cries foul, I am minority myself).

If you think about it, the minorities are on the unequal footing with 'regular' students to begin with. They are more likely to come from poorer families with limited funds, so they might start their education at community colleges, and then transfer to an urban school rather than traditional huge university with which Big 4 have very close ties, and hire more, if not exclusively, from them. (So I doubt if Big 4 ever went to recruit at Chicago State University -- in southside Chicago; even if they do the qualified candidates are unfortunately few in-between, again because of the factors I described above). They'd rather tap into UIUC pool of over-qualified, over-ambitious, over-prepared students whose parents constantly encourage them unlike minorities' parents who are usually either indifferent or worse discouraging of their child's education.

Then, the confidence issue comes into play. Confidence is a huge factor in dealing with people, especially in audit at Big 4. You pretty much have to have the skills of a salesman to do your job and a tact and manners of Emily Post, and that's not something that every minority possesses. If you've been constantly defined as a 'failure' in terms of your race or background, you're bound to have confidence issues to deal with. You might have friends or parents who do not support you or ignore your attempts at bettering yourself. You have an extremely hostile home environment to deal with, and as a result your confidence and your grades might suffer. Basically, all your motivation and dedication have to come within (not from other people), and the most sanest people can crack under such pressure, especially if you're younger.

That not only relevant to PA, but other intensive-people-dealing professions like consulting or IB.

You think why traditional colleges are so intensive in recruiting the minorities? Or why the affirmative action exists? It's because colleges, those bastions of liberal thought and progress, and government realize these issues exists and they want to help these students to succeed. Can they do it? I have my doubts. Confidence thing or absolute certainty in your abilities comes from within. You can't get it from government or your college. In fact they might be doing them disservice by forcing them to be in a position for which they are not prepared to deal with. And I believe this is something that every minority struggled with, especially when it comes to competing with over-confident and over-ambitious students for these types of jobs.

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Firehouse
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Posted: 15 Oct 2009 at 19:41 \| IP Logged

I know one of the Big Four firms heavily tries to recuit certain black people upon learning that they're good candidates.

True story:

This has happened with two different black guys at my school. Upon meeting these candidates (during different semesters) at "meet-the-firm" type of events, and getting recommendations from people about these candidates, the firm heavily tried to recruit that member. They want to get their hand on good candidates, period -- but when that good candidate is a minority, they will pounce on them. So there's hope!

Bridge
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Posted: 15 Oct 2009 at 20:16 \| IP Logged

It also depends on which location/office you are in. If you live in LA, SF, SJ, Chicago, or NY, there are tons of minorities working with the Big4.

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soc09
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Posted: 15 Oct 2009 at 22:56 \| IP Logged

Bridge wrote:

It also depends on which location/office you are in. If you live in LA, SF, SJ, Chicago, or NY, there are tons of minorities working with the Big4.

The reason I posted this question is, I live in Southern California and the number of minorities here in Big 4 does not correlate with the number of minorities in accounting classes or population, which is amazing. And you will hardly find an african american in any of Big 4 here. I am curious where Jessie Jackson is looking

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