Chapter 1: Overcoming Obstacles to CPA Status in the United States of America

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA), Denise Streeter and her team researched and identified the first 100 Black CPAs in the United States for a book published by NABA in 1990 (Streeter, 1990). Subsequently, she and Theresa Hammond interviewed one-third of those pioneers to document their stories, identify the barriers they faced, and discover the characteristics that led them to overcome obstacles and achieve CPA certification. In this chapter, we examine the progress (and lack thereof) that has been made over the past 30 years to make the composition of the CPA profession a better reflection of the diversity of US society.