Title: Are Emily and Greg (Still) More Employable than Lakisha and Jamal (in Public Accounting Firms)?
Author(s) : Mark Nickerson , Lisa Walters , So-Jin Yu
Many research studies since 2004 have found that racial disparities exist in hiring practices for various jobs, benefiting White applicants over Black applicants. To embrace diversity, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) has launched initiatives to enroll a more diverse population into the accounting curriculum with the hope of building a more diverse accounting profession. This study investigates if racial disparity currently exists in the profession despite these initiatives by conducting a blind study of callbacks for eight separate fictitious applicants of various races, genders, and resume quality. The study found that although no difference in callbacks existed between Blacks and Whites, when quality of resumes is considered, Whites have the advantage, driven by the White female.