Guess Who's Your Mentor?

This research will explore the lived experience of aspirant minority accountants in their summer mentorship relationships. Only 4% of all Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) are minorities (primarily African American or Latinos). While the hiring of minority CPAs has increased in recent years, retention rate of those CPAs needs improvement (cite?). One way that public accounting firms are seeking to increase minority retention rates isthrough formal mentorship programs. The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) stated that, “the best mentoring relationships require trust and a good quality match between mentor and the young CPA.” However, what is a good quality match? Is the match based on race, interest, or common backgrounds? Past studies have been conducted on mentorships in accounting firms, but these studies focus more on informal relationships and do not address formal mentorships of millennial minority aspirant accountants. This study will examine formal mentorship relationships in a Big 4 accounting firm. These mentorship qualities will be examined from the perspective of a millennial minority aspirant CPA through exploratory interviews and photos.