Moore School junior Marreo Parks (’23 accounting) is gaining leadership experience
as the president of a national association for Black accountants.
The National Association of Black Accountants student organization is returning to campus this fall for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
As the president of the National Association of Black Accountants, Parks said he considers himself a resource for fellow accounting undergraduates to help them jumpstart their careers.
He sees the NABA organization as a way to connect and create a network and build a professional career in accounting.
“I decided to join NABA as a means to connect with like-minded students as well as expose myself to as many accounting-related professionals as I could contact,” he said. “I saw this organization as an opportunity to expand my network, develop an array of skills and to go ahead and circulate my name around the career field I intend to pursue.”
As president, Parks said his main goal is to help graduating accountant majors receive multiple job offers.
“I saw serving on the executive committee for the NABA as a chance for me to help jumpstart other people's careers and aid them in achieving their goals,” he said. “I felt that I could have a greater impact in providing people with access to as many opportunities by serving in a leadership position.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented challenges for Park’s tenure as president.
Despite the pandemic, Parks said he is excited because this as the organization’s first full year on USC’s campus. With more time to meet in person, Parks said he hopes to grow the organization and reach as many students as he can.
Beyond attaining new members, he hopes to help current members achieve their career ambitions for this academic year.
“I would love to see all of our current members finish their spring semester with internships going into the summer or jobs lined up post-graduation,” Parks said.
Parks chose to attend the Moore School because of family ties and his belief in the school’s academic success.
“My dad is an alumni of USC, so I grew up a Gamecock and only ever thought of going to school here,” he said. “I found out about the prestige of the Moore School as a result of me sifting through the university's website, and of course, my parents were already aware.”
For Parks, the decision to study accounting came about the same way he considers most people choose the major.
“Throughout middle and high school, math and numbers always came easy to me, and I enjoyed working with numbers, so accounting seemed like a natural choice,” he said. “I had my first accounting course second semester freshman year, and from that, I decided that accounting was right for me.”
For summer 2021, Parks started interning with the prestigious business advisory company PricewaterhouseCoopers. He said the Moore School has prepared him for the speed and stress that comes with a full-time internship.
“Interacting with my peers and faculty at the Moore School almost daily did a great job at getting me accustomed to the jargon, culture and expectations of the professional world,” Parks said. “I remember there was one occasion where I was in a meeting and found myself deploying strategies that I learned in one of my management classes just a couple of months before.”
In the future, Parks plans to obtain his Master of Accountancy degree from the Moore School directly after he finishes his undergraduate degree. After finishing his master’s, he said he wants to work at an accounting firm in their audit division. He said he hopes to eventually acquire a job at a national firm so he can have the option to one day transfer offices and live out west.
-James Culbertson