Main article Race and the development of career interest in accounting Kevin L. James a,⇑ , Cecil Hill b,1 a North Carolina A&T State University, School of Business and Economics, 224 Merrick Hall, 1601 East Market Street, Greensboro, NC 27406, United States b Jackson State University, School of Business, 1400 John R. Lynch Street, Jackson, MS 39217, United States article info Keywords: Diversity Career Choice Student Recruitment abstract Data from the AICPA (2009b) show that African–Americans com- prise only 1% of CPAs and were only 4% of new hires by CPA firms in academic year 2007–2008. The current study uses social cogni- tive career theory to examine whether this shortage of diversity may be caused by differences between African–American and Cau- casian students in factors that lead to career interest in accounting. Students were surveyed on two key personal variables: self-effi- cacy and outcome expectations. Results suggest that African– American students are more likely than Caucasian students to perceive accounting as providing outcomes that match their values. However, favorable perceptions may be countered by differences in self-efficacy. African–American students value outcomes pro- vided by accounting, but they may have less confidence, compared to Caucasian students, that they can successfully complete the course of action necessary to enter the profession. Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Despite efforts made by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), African– Americans still lag behind Caucasians in choosing to major in accounting. In this paper, we used social cognitive career theory (SCCT) as a framework to analyze why African–Americans do not pursue accounting as a career in representative numbers. Specifically, our purpose is to examine whether African–American students fail to develop an interest in accounting, the first step toward pursuing a career. 0748-5751/$ - see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jaccedu.2010.07.005 ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: + 1 336 334 7581. E-mail addresses: kljames@ncat.edu (K.L. James), cecil.l.hill@jsums.edu (C. Hill). 1 Tel.: +1 601 979 2414. J. of Acc. Ed. 27 (2009) 210–222 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect J. of Acc. Ed. journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jaccedu