This statement comes from Larry Lundy, owner of 31 Pizza Hut franchises and one of America's most successful African-American businessmen, and it illustrates perfectly the wide- open path to success that accounting offers. Accountants are essential to every single business field in the country, from advertising to zinc mining; and successful accountants have tremendous opportunities in public accounting, in business and industry, and in establishing their own businesses.

But is this true for the average Black accountant?

"With ethnic and gender changes occurring in the workforce as a whole, and beginning to happen at management levels, minority accounting students are in a great position," says Larry D. Bailey, an African-American partner at the Big 6 accounting firm of Coopers & Lybrand. "These changes will not only benefit their growth within their firms but also provide them with career opportunities outside of public accounting."

African-American accounting students will also benefit from the increasing need in all sectors for qualified accountants. The U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics predicts a 34.5 percent increase in the number of accountants needed between 1990 and 2005. No other profession is forecasted to experience this increase in demand. Some people are even predicting a shortage of Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) in the marketplace after the turn of the century.

If the future holds considerable promise for African-American accountants, the past shows a dramatic underrepresentation in the field. A survey commissioned by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) in 1968 showed that only 0.15 percent of all CPAs were African Americans. The AICPA has made a major commitment to correcting this situation; nevertheless, even today Blacks make up only 0.6 percent of our country's CPAs, as compared to 2.0 percent of lawyers and 3.3 percent of doctors. It should be noted that the number of African- American women going into accounting is increasing far more dramatically than the number of African-American men.

While the AICPA has vigorously renewed its commitment to increasing the number of minority accountants, recent changes in the requirements for the CPA exam has some observers worried that new obstacles are being placed on the accounting career path. Candidates for the CPA exam must now have 150 hours of college study under their belts in most states, and experts think that this number will be the national standard by the end of the century.

This is a 30-hour increase from the previous requirements, and many people believe that the burden will fall most heavily on minority students, particularly those attending historically Black colleges and universities. In most cases, completing the extra hours will require graduate study, and only a few HBCU's offer graduate programs in accounting. Given the pressures of time and financial resources confronting many African-American students, there is considerable concern that the new standards will discourage these students from pursuing accounting careers.

Yet there is a silver lining to this cloud: Most employers today are looking increasingly for graduates with well-rounded backgrounds, and the additional 30 hours provide an opportunity for study outside of accounting (and taking this approach may allow some students to complete the extra hours within the context of undergraduate study). Also, graduates may enter the workforce before completing the additional hours; the on-the-job experience can be of additional benefit for those taking the CPA exam, and employment income can help pay the tuition costs of the extra hours.

Another up side of the expanded hours requirement is that after it went into effect in Florida, the first state to adopt the higher standard, the percentage of people passing the CPA exam rose by nearly 50 percent. This improvement may indicate a benefit to African-American CPA candidates, who often do not have ready access to professional preparation courses for the exam. Also, the AICPA and the National Association of Black Accountants have a significant number of scholarships available, which can help defray some of the costs of the extra hours.

Either way, graduates entering the accounting profession must stay on course to take and pass the CPA exam. While the exam is more difficult than virtually any college test, receiving one's CPA license is in essence the meal ticket into a long and prosperous accounting career.

And just what are the career options open to accountants?

The first and most obvious is public accounting: going to work for a CPA firm. In 1993, 26 percent of all accounting graduates were hired by such firms. In addition, the number of African-American owned public accounting firms has grown significantly in the past 20 years, providing many new opportunities for Black graduates.

"The field of public accounting offers an individual the opportunity for exposure to the financial operations of many different types of business," says Coopers & Lybrand's Bailey. "It provides an excellent opportunity for young graduates to enhance their business education beyond their academic years."

This is perhaps the greatest appeal of public accounting: While many people remain in the public arena throughout their careers, many others take advantage of the extensive variety of business knowledge and experience they acquire to move into high-level positions in business, or to start their own business, whether those businesses are accounting-related or not.

Business and industry provide the largest number of accounting jobs, hiring 28 percent of 1993's accounting graduates. While entry-level jobs tend to involve basic accounting, many top management executives in firms large and small across the country began their careers as accountants. This is because exposure to financial theory and operations, as well as the inner workings of corporate structures, provides excellent training for moving on to the management level.

As mentioned earlier, every single type of business needs accountants. Therefore, students have a unique opportunity to combine other interests with accounting, and to find employment as accountants in the field that is most appealing to them, moving on later to executive-type positions within the field.

For example, Ron Holloman, an African American, is currently director of Internal Audit with Harrah's New Orleans casino. He sees "more opportunities for African Americans in the field of accounting as gaming enters urban markets with significant minority populations and representation in government." Holloman, who previously worked for Bruno & Tervalon in New Orleans and the Big 6 accounting firm of Ernst and Young, also notes that "experts expect the proliferation [of gaming] to continue during the next five to ten years."

Another important career path starts in government. "Government offers many opportunities for African-American accountants," says Daniel G. Kyle, legislative auditor for the State of Louisiana. "The government environment provides some degree of employment security, while it provides a sense of public service to our fellow citizens."

In 1993, five percent of accounting graduates were hired by various government entities. Non-profit organizations hired another two percent, the rest of the graduates either continued their education or worked in non-accounting fields.

Interestingly, entry-level salaries are relatively similar in all employment categories. In public accounting, entry-level salaries range from $22,000 to $30,000; in industry, the range is $23,000 to $28,500; and in government, salaries start around $24,000. Major variables in these salaries include size of the hiring company and geographic location.

Regardless of which career path an accountant embarks upon, he or she is immediately an important asset to the firm. Accountants often have the most comprehensive grasp of their employers' overall financial picture (or their employers' clients' financial picture, in public accounting), an understanding that makes them invaluable information sources at decision-making time. For African Americans, this means that accounting is one particularly viable access route to playing a meaningful role in corporate decisions. It often affords the opportunity to influence those decisions in such a way as to benefit the community as a whole.

It also means that individual accountants, by virtue of their value to their employers, have plenty of room to move upwards in both position and salary. While there is still evidence of the "glass ceiling" that blocks African Americans and other minorities from career advancement, the accounting profession has expressed an ongoing determination to correct this problem; and today's graduates face far better prospects than those of the previous generation.

"My office presently evaluates the makeup of my staff and would do so even in the absence of affirmative action," says Kyle. "I believe that diversity is necessary to maintain a well-balanced, professional staff."

Any career with opportunities for real power and financial rewards demands hard work and commitment from those seeking advancement, and accounting is no exception. Among the personal skills most frequently cited by employers are the ability to analyze information and interpret it for decision-making; teamwork; communication skills; the ability to think on one's feet; and the vision to see the big picture.

It is also very important to have the patience and personal commitment necessary for advancement in the corporate world. Deciding what you want to do early on, then sticking with it and really going for it through the bright spots and dark spots that come with any profession, is what it takes to be a winner in the accounting game. For many people in today's get-rich-quick, win-the-lottery mindset, this may be an anathema; but for individuals interested in achieving true success and power in the corporate world, these skills may ultimately be what push them to the top.

If you add leadership to the skills listed previously, you have just about every attribute necessary for successful entrepreneurship--and a very high number of accountants play a role in making entrepreneurial dreams come true, whether the dreams be theirs or those of close friends and associates. There is a growing awareness in the African-American community nationwide that the best road to success is to create our own opportunities (especially in light of the troubling commentary in Congress regarding affirmative action); and accountants will, in the years ahead, be major players in the flourishing of their communities, either in support of other African-American owned businesses or as entrepreneurs in their own right.

Already, 92 percent of African-American CPAs say they are happy with their career choice. This is well above the national average for most professions.

Larry Lundy, the Pizza Hut magnate, is as good an example of this as any. He is a major force in the New Orleans business community who makes exceptional use of his and his company's financial resources to support many worthwhile community projects and organizations. He also is a major employer in the city, and contracts with many other African- American owned firms for a variety of necessary services.

"I would urge every young person who has a desire to succeed in the business world and in most professions to get some accounting training and to apply the knowledge gained to career and personal goals," says Lundy. "The image of accountants as dull, intellectual nerds is just another propaganda message designed to keep you away from a sound understanding of how to succeed in American business."

Indeed, if there is a single, appropriate image with which to define the African-American accountant of the future, it is that of a successful business person, community leader, and role model for generations to come. Those with the commitment and willingness to work today will be those who create this image tomorrow -- and who enjoy the many financial and other rewards that come with it.

Michael B. Bruno is managing partner of Bruno & Tervalon, an African-American owned accounting firm in New Orleans. He is an adjunct professor at Southern University at New Orleans, and serves as an editorial advisor to The Journal of Accountancy.

For More Information:

• American Accounting Association
  5717 Bessie Drive
  Sarasota, FL 34233
  Phone: (813) 921-7747

• American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
  1211 Ave. of the Americas
  New York, NY 10036
  Phone: (212) 596-6200

• National Association of Black Accountants
  7249-A Hanover Parkway
  Greenbelt, Maryland  20770

• National Black MBA Association
  180 N. Michigan Ave., Ste. 1820
  Chicago, IL  60601
  Phone: (312) 236-2622
  Fax: (312) 236-4131