College of Business Graduate Honored for Top CPA Exam Performance
Becoming a Certified Public Accountant is an arduous process and before one can act as such a rigorous examination must be taken. The national pass rate for the examination averages at around fifty percent with only a seventy-five percent chance of passing at least one section on the first attempt. Ten percent still score beneath the minimum on a second attempt.
Jacob Oster, a previous intern with Anderson County Economic Development, graduated from the College of Business at Anderson University in 2019 and in 2020 was awarded the Elijah Watt Sells Award for his excellence performed on the national CPA examination. Out of 75,000 students taking the exam, Jacob was one of only 89 to be honored with the award.
In 1923, the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) created the Elijah Watt Sells Award program to acknowledge and recognize those that exhibited exceptional performance on the CPA examination. A cumulative average score of 95.50 on the first attempt must be achieved in all four of the sections contained on the Uniform CPA exam and completed all testing within 2020 for the CPA candidate to be considered for the award.
Oster received a Bachelor of Science in Business from Anderson University and a Master of Science in Accountancy from Wake Forest University.
Oster describes his experience in Anderson University’s accounting program as “top notch,” in preparing him with a solid foundation for entering graduate school and today in his work on the audit staff for the accounting firm of Elliott Davis in Greenville, South Carolina.
“At the end of the day, the foundation classes you have in accounting—they’re pretty pivotal,” he said. “It’s a great group of faculty and I miss them a lot.” Oster also appreciates the guidance of the university’s internship program, helping him make connections to be where he is today.
His wife Sara, whom he met at Anderson University, also graduated from the College of Business. She’s a business analyst with Global Lending Services in Greenville.