On May 18th, the Washington CPA Foundation honored Foundation Circle Contributors and the 60 accounting students that received scholarships for the 2017-18 school year at a reception held in the Roy J. Polley Memorial Classroom at the WSCPA office in Bellevue. The scholarship recipients (pictured here) are a distinguished group with impressive academic records, work ethics, and a desire to pursue the career opportunities afforded by an accounting degree and the CPA designation. They represent 12 colleges and universities across the state, and a cross-section of juniors, seniors, and master’s students, as well as one doctoral candidate.

This annual scholarship program is made possible by the work of a cadre of 55 scholarship review volunteers, whom we appreciate immensely. The selection process was rigorous, involving three rounds of review, such that 6-8 different reviewers read and ranked each application initially, then ranked applications were further evaluated in a second round, and finally, scholarship recipients were determined during an in-person meeting. It’s rewarding to award scholarships to deserving students and to find inspiration in their hard work, achievements, and personal stories. And of course, this work is well-orchestrated by staff of the WSCPA, both to promote the opportunity to scholarship candidates and to organize the applications in a streamlined online system.

Of the 60 scholarships awarded, 45 were awarded under the Certified Public Accounting Scholarship Program, a program funded by the state and administered by the Foundation. The remaining 15 scholarships were made possible by named scholarship contributors, endowments, or directly by the Foundation.

Gratitude for Contributors

We are grateful for the contributors to the scholarship program: WSCPA members, organizations providing named scholarships, and established endowments. I want to encourage you to continue to support this important work, to enable us to drive continued scholarship support for deserving students. Thank you to each of the following organizations that support our work with named scholarships: Clark Nuber, CliftonLarsonAllen, EY, KPMG, Moss Adams, Peterson Sullivan, PwC, Sambataro Family Foundation, and Shimer Family Foundation on behalf of Deloitte.

Finally, we want to acknowledge those who established an ongoing legacy through their endowments: the Roy J. Polley Memorial Scholarship and the George J. Waterman Memorial Scholarship Funds. Please contact Kimberly Scott at kscott@wscpa.org if you would like to participate as a named scholarship provider or would like to include the Foundation in your estate planning.

Our Commitment

The Foundation is committed to supporting the future of the profession by encouraging interest in the field of accounting and supporting highly qualified, prospective CPAs. In order to ensure a strong, qualified and diverse talent pool, one part of the work of the Foundation is this annual scholarship program. Equally important, we also have a grants program to support career development programs at the community college and pre-college levels.

This year we made our initial grant awards totaling $20,000 to two outstanding programs, the Accounting Career Awareness Program and College Access Now. We expect the work of these programs will drive more interest in the profession, and provide more outstanding accounting students, prospective CPAs that are the future of our profession.

Thank you for your continued support of the future of the accounting profession

To make a contribution or to learn more about the Foundation, click here. You can also send us an email at foundation@wscpa.org or call (425) 644-4800.

Are you an accounting student looking for ways to pay for your education? The Washington CPA Foundation scholarship application will be available in September. Learn more about the eligibility requirements and guidelines here.

 Jackie Davidson, CPA, CGMA, is Chair of the Washington CPA Foundation. Contact her at foundation@wscpa.org.

This article appeared in the summer 2017 issue of the  WashingtonCPA Magazine. Read more here.