Accounting educators no doubt agree that diversity is an important and much neglected part of accounting education. They further recognize that it is difficult to incorporate this important topic into the accounting curriculum. This paper describes the efforts of various professors to expose business and accounting students to the evolution of diversity issues related to the accounting profession by using the book A White-Collar Profession [Hammond, 2002]. A White-Collar Profession: African-American CPAs Since 1921 is a seminal work which presents a history of the profession as it relates to African-American CPAs and documents the individual struggles of many of the first one hundred blacks to become certified. This paper describes efforts of faculty at four different colleges to utilize this book in their teaching of accounting. Instructors found that students not only developed an enhanced awareness about the history of the accounting profession, but that other educational objectives were advanced, such as improved communication and critical thinking skills, increased social awareness, and empathy for others. African-American students, in particular, embraced the people in the book as role models, while most every student saw the characters as heroic in a day when the accounting profession is badly in need of role models and heroes. This is encouraging given the profession's concern with diversity and the attention and resources directed at increasing the number of minorities entering the profession.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
1 June 2006
Research Article|
June 01 2006
USING A WHITE-COLLAR PROFESSION IN ACCOUNTING COURSES: APPROACHES TO ADDRESSING DIVERSITY
William D. Samson;
William D. Samson
UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA
Search for other works by this author on:
Richard K. Fleischman;
Richard K. Fleischman
JOHN CARROLL UNIVERSITY
Search for other works by this author on:
Ida B. Robinson-Backmon
Ida B. Robinson-Backmon
NORTH CAROLINA A&T UNIVERSITY
Search for other works by this author on:
Online ISSN: 2327-4468
Print ISSN: 0148-4184
© 2006 American Accounting Association
2006
Accounting Historians Journal (2006) 33 (1): 25–52.
Citation
William D. Samson, Cheryl L. Allen, Richard K. Fleischman, Ida B. Robinson-Backmon; USING A WHITE-COLLAR PROFESSION IN ACCOUNTING COURSES: APPROACHES TO ADDRESSING DIVERSITY. Accounting Historians Journal 1 June 2006; 33 (1): 25–52. https://doi.org/10.2308/0148-4184.33.1.25
Download citation file:
Pay-Per-View Access
$25.00