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Leventhal Professor Partners with Students for New NABA Chapter

Leventhal Professor Partners with Students for New NABA Chapter

The new NABA chapter connects Leventhal undergraduates with the world’s biggest accounting firms.

by: Alexander Bernard
12.27.23
Leventhal Professor Partners with Students for New NABA Chapter

NABA's new chapter at USC connects students with worthwhile opportunities. 

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It was a rainy night in March 2023, and Associate Professor of Clinical Accounting ZIVIA SWEENEY was thinking about canceling the first NABA meeting in years. It had been a long time since the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BLACK ACCOUNTANTS had a chapter on USC’s campus, and Sweeney was passionate about bringing the organization back for her students at LEVENTHAL. Representatives from the “Big Four” accounting firms (Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), Ernst & Young, KPMG) had made the trip to the School of Accounting, along with several partners from high-powered risk management firms. Sweeney worried that thunderstorms, however, would postpone the meeting.

Despite the downpour, students started to trickle into the standing room only classroom. The meeting would be a greater success than Sweeney could’ve possibly imagined. Within a week, several students had already secured internships from the risk management firms. NABA was off and running at USC once again.

This wasn’t Sweeney’s first attempt to kickstart NABA on USC’s campus. Two times before, she’d tried to form a Trojan chapter, but the group failed to retain membership from year to year. In those past iterations, Sweeney hadn’t served as the group’s faculty advisor so at the beginning of fall semester, she was determined to do everything it took to make NABA stick. And she wasn’t the only one interested in the organization’s place at USC.

“The big talk among the firms, and at my symposiums I went to, was we want NABA back on your campus,” Sweeney said. “Every last one of those big four firms was harping about getting NABA back on campus…I decided to go ahead and say, ‘let’s give it a try.’ And this time I’m going to stay as a faculty advisor myself to get it back on campus.”

As Sweeney explained, firms have a vested interest in hiring diverse accountants. Not only does a more inclusive workforce reduce groupthink and add valuable perspective, but it’s a major benefit for business itself.

“I would say from everyone who I talked with, with the firm’s global leaders and so forth, this is a true commitment to ‘Hey, we want this talent pool because they make us better as business people. They make us better as firms. And they make us money,” Sweeney said.

This attitude certainly wasn’t the standard when Sweeney started her career as an accountant and auditor in the 1970s and ’80s. On the contrary, Sweeney said she often felt isolated in the workplace.

“There were maybe four or five female partners in the whole country and two of them with the (PWC) L.A. office,” Sweeney recalled. “It was a predominantly white male profession and, on many audit teams, I was the only woman or person of color.”

The big talk among the firms, and at my symposiums I went to, was we want NABA back on your campus. Every last one of those big four firms was harping about getting NABA back on campus…I decided to go ahead and say, ‘let’s give it a try.’ And this time I’m going to stay as a faculty advisor myself to get it back on campus.

— Zivia Sweeney

Associate Professor of Clinical Accounting

She also felt prejudice from some of her clients as well.

“Back then, the clients had a role in saying who they didn’t want on their jobs,” Sweeney said. “A lot of times I was prohibited by gender and race, but I didn’t let that stop me because I found a place working for many, many wonderful firms.”

Now, with countless connections in the accounting world, the USC professor hopes to guide her students down a path she paved years ago. Two weeks before classes began, Sweeney selected what seemed an unlikely choice for student president at first: Junior Bryan Gomez.

“My only question was, ‘Professor Sweeney, you know what this club stands for: National Association of Black Accountants. I’m Hispanic, I’m not black. I don’t know if I can help you. But yeah, I’m down,’” Gomez said. “And she was like, ‘Brian, don’t worry about it.’”

Sweeney offered Gomez a new vision of NABA, one that helped people of all different races and backgrounds achieve their goals. Buoyed by his professor’s support, Gomez accepted the position and got to work. He believed Sweeney recognized how driven he was, and he wouldn’t let her down.

No job is too big or too small for Gomez, whether it be sending emails to firms, organizing meetings, speaking at gatherings, or just picking up the pizza. The result gives him and Sweeney hope that this iteration of NABA will have legs.

Dozens of people attend every single meeting, a newsletter keeps members informed, and businesses routinely invite NABA students to their offices for tours and information sessions. Aside from the Big Four firms, which continue to support the chapter, Gomez and the other aspiring accountants have also visited companies like the NFL, Disney, and many more.

The goal is to open doors that are usually closed, says Gomez. Those aspirations are being realized. Many NABA students have already received offers for jobs and internships, including Gomez himself.

“[All of the Big Four firms] asked me about NABA,” Gomez said. “That’s the first thing they asked about. I can imagine it’s the same for the other members who have it on their resumes. I’m just super grateful. If I never joined NABA, I would have never applied to these Big Four. I wouldn’t be signed with them.”

NABA will continue to strive to connect its members with worthwhile opportunities. And the work won’t stop with newsletters and networking. Sweeney and Gomez aspire to prepare Leventhal students for every single facet of their careers.

“We have a long list of stuff we want to do…mentorship program…a faculty mentoring program,” Sweeney said. “We want to have our students do a little bit of consulting. We want to try to get a case competition where a lot of our diversity students can have an opportunity to participate in something that’s USC based.”

This new NABA chapter at USC is just getting started. But if this first year is any indication, this version might be around for a very long time.

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