The American Institute of CPAs Foundation has awarded its 2021 William (Bill) Ezzell Scholarships to five CPAs pursuing doctorates in accounting.
The scholarship program provides a one-time award of $10,000 to top accounting Ph.D. candidates who demonstrate "significant potential to become mentors for the next generation of CPAs." The scholarship honors the late Bill Ezzell, a former chairman of the AICPA board of directors, and his passion for both the CPA profession and his belief that CPAs should be taught by educators with recent, real-world experiences.
“Educators that bring current in-the-field experience as CPAs are able to uniquely share their knowledge with accounting students," said Ernie Almonte, AICPA Foundation president, in a statement. "Bill believed that an essential part of accounting education was blending the feel of real-life experiences with the traditional classroom learning. We are happy to help these five recipients complete their educations so they can help cultivate the next generation of accounting professionals.”
The scholarship is available to CPAs in the United States who have at least three years of professional accounting experience and an undergraduate or master’s degree in accounting. Applicants must also intend to teach or conduct research at an accredited university following the completion of their Ph.D. program.
Recipients of the 2021 William (Bill) Ezzell Scholarship, and their areas of study, include:
- Amy Garman, financial accounting research, University of Kansas;
- Erik Harvey, behavioral research in auditing and financial accounting, Cornell University;
- Taylor James, accounting, University of Southern California;
- Patrick Kmieciak, accounting, University of Florida; and,
- Anthony Welsch, accounting/taxation, the University of Texas at Austin
For more information on the William (Bill) Ezzell Scholarship, head to the AICPA's
