AICPA National Commission on Diversity & Inclusion

The AICPA National Commission on Diversity and Inclusion (NCDI) was formed in 2012 to serve as champions within the accounting profession. It proposes strategies to recruit, retain, and advance under-represented minorities in the profession. The NCDI has set a new course to address best practices and develop tools to help members and firms succeed in their diversity and inclusion efforts. The work of the NCDI focuses on ethnicity and race to help the profession attract and retain minorities in their organizations. 

The vision of the NCDI is to create a seamless handoff of students from the pipeline to the profession, and ensure retention and advancement. They work to accomplish this through three profession-wide goals:

1. The Student - Increase the number of students who enroll in accounting and who graduate.
2. The Firms - Increase the number of firms to positively affirm that they have a diversity program.
3. The Professional - Increase the number of underrepresented minorities who sit for the exam and who obtain their CPA.

The NCDI consists of representatives from minority professional advocacy groups such as ALPFA, Ascend, NABA, and NCPACA, CPA firms, state CPA societies and leaders from business and industry, government and education.

Inclusion Champions Program

The Inclusion Champions represent a cohort of CPAs across the country that will help foster discussions on diversity and inclusion throughout the profession. They will create awareness of diversity and inclusion tools available to all firms and inspire actions that make D&I a part of the everyday experience. The Champions are highly skilled and trained to reach the profession through speaking engagements and other activities.

HBCU Engagement

The NCDI is developing an approach for the accounting profession to further engage historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) as a means to fill the pipeline with African-American CPAs. Including but not limited to, supporting HBCUs by working with HBCU administration to identify ways to increase student CPA sit and pass rates and increase recruiting on HBCU campuses.

CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™  

The NCDI is advocating that the top 100 accounting firms sign a national CEO’s for diversity and inclusion pledge – CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion.  The CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™ is the largest CEO-driven business commitment to advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace. It focuses on cultivating open dialogue on complex, sometimes difficult conversations about D&I, implementing and expanding unconscious bias education, sharing best known and successful actions. Our 2018 goal is to have the top 100 firms sign the pledge by the end of the year. Click here to get information on pledging.