Supporting Minority Students in the Global Accounting Pipeline: From an Individual Deficit to a Structural Realignment Approach

ABSTRACT

Minority representation within the global accounting pipeline remains limited, despite sustained diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. This paper synthesizes global accounting scholarship to critically examine how support for minority students and therefore professionals has evolved across regions and demographic groups. It traces how such support has been conceptualized and implemented across three key stages of the pipeline: entry into accounting programs, progression through education, and transition into professional practice. Drawing on a structured review of 81 peer‐reviewed studies, the analysis demonstrates that persistent underrepresentation is less attributable to individual deficits and more reflective of entrenched structural inequalities. Early interventions were predominantly deficit‐focused, emphasizing remediation and assimilation of minority populations, with limited attention to the institutional contexts shaping these challenges. In contrast, more recent scholarship highlights the influence of organizational culture, socioeconomic conditions, language, identity, and power in shaping access, progression, and belonging. Across contexts, recurring barriers such as a weak sense of belonging, exclusionary professional norms, and unequal access to opportunities suggest that incremental interventions cannot produce the desired transformations without systemic changes. The paper argues that meaningful progress requires a shift from an individualized, deficit‐based mindset toward a structural realignment approach that enables equitable participation and success in institutional environments. It contributes to accounting scholarship by offering an integrated global perspective on minority experiences and providing practitioner‐oriented insights for educators, firms, and professional bodies seeking to design more effective, context‐responsive interventions.