The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) has announced the winners of the 2007 Elijah Watt Sells Awards. The awards are presented annually to the 10 candidates earning the highest cumulative scores on the four sections of the Uniform CPA Examination. These candidates must have completed testing during the previous calendar year and passed each exam section on their first attempt. In 2007, there were over seventy-six thousand examinees.
The 2007 award winners (in alphabetical order, followed by their State Board affiliation) are:
Steven J. Alden, (MA), a graduate of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, will enter an MBA program at Harvard Business School this fall and is currently employed by KPMG, LLP in Boston.
John G. Berger, Jr., (IL), a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, is currently enrolled at Notre Dame Law School and expects to earn his law degree in May 2010.
Jason J. Brancazio, (CA), a graduate of Princeton University, who completed accounting coursework at the University of California, Los Angeles, is currently employed at Bruce L. Ross and Company in Rolling Hills Estates, Calif.
Bryan E. Dean, (WA), a graduate of the University of Washington, is currently working for Clark Nuber PS in Bellevue, WA.
John Briscoe Escosa III, (KY), a graduate of Bellarmine University with a BA and an MBA is currently working for Deloitte & Touche, LLP in Indianapolis.
Rapheal Joseph Hamilton, (KS), a graduate of Emporia State University and Syracuse University is serving in the United States Army and currently working for the Multi-National Security Transition Command in Iraq.
Wenxin Li, (NH), a graduate of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (China), and the A.B. Freeman School of Business, Tulane University, is currently employed by Energy Future Holdings in Dallas.
Barri Alexandra Litt, (SC), a graduate of University of Florida-Gainesville with a Bachelor’s and Masters of Accounting is currently employed by Score at the Top Learning Centers in Coral Springs, Fla.
Walker Fleming Saik, (NC), a graduate of Davidson College and the Calloway School of Business and Accountancy, Wake Forest University, is currently working for Ernst & Young in New Orleans.
Bryce A. Schonberger, (CO), a graduate of the University of Colorado-Boulder with a BS and a Master’s degree is employed by PricewaterhouseCoopers in Denver.
The award was created to honor Elijah Watt Sells in 1923, the year prior to his death. Sells was one of the country’s first CPAs under the provision of a New York State law enacted in 1896 and a leader in advancing professional education. He was active in the establishment of the AICPA and was a founder of New York University’s School of Commerce, Accounts and Finance.