A Few Minutes with New Faculty Member, Amanda Marino

Amanda Marino will be joining the Charles W. Lamden School of Accountancy at San Diego State University’s Fowler College of Business during Fall 2021 as an assistant professor. She recently earned her Ph.D. at Drexel University where she also taught taxation and financial reporting classes. 
Marino shares her background and discusses what led her to join the faculty at SDSU. 

In her spare time, accounting professor, Amanda Marino, plays roller derby

1. Where is your hometown?
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

2.   What led to your interest in accounting?
I went into my undergraduate program as an international studies major. I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do, but I wanted to see the world. I took my first accounting class knowing nothing about accounting. But I thought it was interesting and I realized pretty quickly that financial literacy is important to any area of work. I found out that a career in accounting could enable me to live wherever I wanted and to have a stable income, and I was pretty good at it! So, I switched my major and never looked back. 

Amanda Marino powers through the opposing team during a roller derby match

3.  What prompted you to leave the corporate world for academia? 
For ten years I worked as a tax accountant for public accounting firms preparing taxes for multinational entities. The longer I worked in public accounting I realized that there were questions I wanted to ask that I couldn’t answer in practice. I wanted to know more about why companies choose different tax strategies and the impact those choices have on the economy. I wanted to understand the factors that influence tax policy and the implications of that policy. I also found that my favorite part of my day was training my staff. Working in academia has enabled me to do two of my favorite things: to teach young people about financial literacy, accounting, and taxation, while also getting to read and write about things I care about — tax and accounting research! 

4. Why did you choose to come to San Diego State? 
San Diego State has an amazing business school and accounting department. I am so excited to join their team of skilled educators and researchers! And I love being near the ocean! I would swim every day if I could. My wife and I can't wait to take some surf lessons!

5. Is there anything else you'd like to add in here that I didn't mention?  
When not teaching or doing research, I love reading Star Wars Extended Universe (EU) novels and playing roller derby. I've been playing for almost 10 years, but we've been on hiatus for the past year because of COVID. I can't wait to get back on the track and check out the teams in San Diego!