Summit Sponsorship Spotlight: Deloitte

January 5, 2022

By: MENTOR

Inspiring the next generation of accountants.

Deloitte’s MADE–Making Accounting Diverse and Equitable–is a commitment to help generate more advisory, auditing, and tax career opportunities and leadership pathways for the next generation of certified public accountants (CPAs). MADE represents a bold vision for the accounting profession, both in terms of increasing racial and ethnic diversity, and helping racially and ethnically diverse students realize their future in business through the prism and possibilities of accounting.

Deloitte’s MADE commitment, including accounting scholarships, is a comprehensive strategy to address major barriers faced by racially and ethnically diverse students and to help grow the population of diverse talent–thus helping transform the future of the accounting profession.

“We are very excited about this next step in our path towards racial diversity. In order to address the disparity, conscious and deliberate effort must be taken. We know that unless we tackle the underlying problems, the best of intentions will not get the profession to where it needs to be or position youth of color to be part of the next generation of business leaders. Deloitte is uniquely positioned and will be a leader in addressing this complex and transformative issue facing the profession.”

-Thalia Smith, Audit & Assurance partner and MADE Sponsor Lead, Deloitte & Touche LLP

Included in Deloitte’s $75 million commitment is the Deloitte Foundation Accounting Scholars program. Over the next six years, the Deloitte Foundation expects to fund $30 million in scholarships to students pursuing a fifth-year master’s program in accounting at select participating college/university programs in the United States, in an effort to increase representation of racially and ethnically diverse students in these programs. The Deloitte Foundation has launched the program with select participating universities with a mutual desire to increase diversity in master’s programs, and, in turn, the accounting profession.

The remaining $45 million of the strategy includes various programs and initiatives. A few to highlight:

The Deloitte Academy: Accounting Edition is our workshop series that introduces high school students to careers in accounting. Deloitte is committed to inspiring and preparing youth for long-term success by collaborating with high schools, colleges, state CPA societies, and various non-profits to bring accounting to life for thousands of racially and ethnically diverse youth across the country.

The Stride CPA readiness program seeks to address barriers faced by professionals recruited through various schools or organizations when taking the CPA exam by supporting their preparation with real-time access to and instruction from experienced CPA tutors, providing up to 13-weeks of fully paid time, the majority of which is dedicated to studying, and covering exam costs.

Deloitte is collaborating with Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business to launch the Climb Fellowship Program, a leadership development initiative focused on bringing mid-career accounting professionals across industries together to create a community and provide resources to help position them for senior roles within their organizations. While the Climb Fellowship Program is primarily intended to benefit eligible Black and Hispanic/Latinx professionals, all eligible professionals will be considered.

The MADE working group consists of racially and ethnically diverse business, academic, and community leaders who bring leading external perspectives, challenge our thinking, and create a forum to engage with one another. These leaders bring a vast array of experiences and individual passion to advance equity and inclusion.

While our MADE commitment focuses on the broader accounting profession, it complements and builds upon Deloitte’s goal of increasing the number of Black and Hispanic/Latinx professionals in its overall US workforce by 50% by 2025 as stated in the 2021 Deloitte Transparency Report.

Learn more about Deloitte’s MADE commitment and related programs and initiatives.

About Deloitte

Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company limited by guarantee (“DTTL”), its network of member firms, and their related entities. DTTL and each of its member firms are legally separate and independent entities. DTTL (also referred to as “Deloitte Global”) does not provide services to clients. In the United States, Deloitte refers to one or more of the US member firms of DTTL, their related entities that operate using the “Deloitte” name in the United States, and their respective affiliates. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting. Please see www.deloitte.com/about to learn more about our global network of member firms.