U.S. CPA firm accounting and finance functions made gains in hiring and promoting diverse personnel in 2020 amid an overall slowing in the CPA pipeline, according to a new AICPA report.
The 2021 Trends report collects data to provide a snapshot of the accounting profession, set against the current economy and the ability to forecast future trends.
The report found that the portion of new accounting graduates with ethnically diverse backgrounds hired by firms increased to 35% in 2020 — up 5% from two years earlier.
However, the total hiring of new accounting graduates by firms in 2020 decreased by 10% from 2018. Firms reported that 57% of their new graduate hires were accounting graduates, compared with 43% that were nonaccounting graduates. See more findings.