In December 1969, nine African-Americans met in New York City to discuss the unique challenges and limited opportunities they faced in the accounting profession. In that year, there were only 136 African-American Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) out of a total of 100,000 in the United States. This group wanted to establish an organization to address the concerns of minorities entering the accounting profession and to make a commitment to professional and academic excellence.
Today, through the efforts of NABA and other interested groups, there are now over 200,000 African-Americans participating in the field of accounting, of which over 5,000 are CPAs. As a leader in the business community, NABA continues to create opportunities for the purpose of enlarging the pipeline of African-Americans into every level of accounting and finance.