Institute recognizes CPA exam’s top scorers for 2010 and 2011

The AICPA announced the winners of the 2010 and 2011 Elijah Watt Sells Awards, which are presented annually to the candidates earning the highest cumulative scores on the four sections of the Uniform CPA Examination.

The award was created in 1923 to honor Sells, one of the country’s first CPAs under the provision of a New York state law and a leader in advancing professional education.

For the 2010 awards, candidates must have completed testing during the 2010 calendar year and passed each exam section on their first attempt. More than 103,000 individuals sat for the exam in 2010.

The 2010 award winners, in alphabetical order, followed by their state board affiliation, are:

• Seth D. Albin (Kan.)
• Bryan T. Avery (Mich.)
• Michael Berryman (Md.)
• Kristen Adele Brands (Minn.)
• Michael Robert Dean (Wash.)
• Jeffrey D. Downs (Conn.)
• Shane C. Drake (Fla.)
• Jaymie A. Farr (Calif.)
• Trevor Steven Goss (Ariz.)
• Eric Emil Hartel (Ga.)
• William Thomas Jachym (Conn.)
• David E. Johnson (Ill.)
• Emily Kiser (Texas)
• Zhi P. Liu (Mich.)
• Jenna K. Mehalic (Ill.)
• Heather Brilyn Saleeby (Ga.)
• Christopher Joseph Schoell (N.Y.)
• Christopher David Tkach (Mo.)
• Paul Zimbardo (N.Y.)

For the 2011 awards, candidates must have completed testing during the 2011 calendar year and passed all four sections of the exam on their first attempt. More than 90,000 candidates sat for the exam in 2011, with 37 meeting the criteria for the awards, achieving a 95.50 cumulative average score across all four sections of the exam.

The 2011 award winners are:

• Brittany Aloi (N.C.)
• Andrea Betassa (Wash.)
• Derek Bronsky (N.J.)
• Philip Joseph Brudney (Ga.)
• Daniel J. Busby (N.Y.)
• Megan V. Cody (N.Y.)
• Elliott Coor (Ga.)
• Lauren B. Coste (Ill.)
• Nick Crandall (S.C.)
• Ben Crowe (Texas)
• B.J. Dinter (Minn.)
• Joshua J. Eikenberry (N.Y.)
• Eric Quinby Evans (Wash.)
• William Feie (Ill.)
• Michael Gould (Ill.)
• Michael Hofer (N.J.)
• Mary Elizabeth Howard (Tenn.)
• Ashley Hubbard (Texas)
• David M. Johnson (Utah)
• Michael Koll (Calif.)
• Simon Liang (Ill.)
• Cody J. Meglio (Alaska)
• Nguyen Thao Ngo (Alaska)
• Christopher Perry (N.J.)
• Steven Purvis (Ore.)
• Ekaterina Valentinova Saeva (Ill.)
• Katherine Gail Sage (Mass.)
• Tyler Steven Schehl (Ill.)
• Timothy Andrew Smith (Texas)
• Cory Mark Snyder (Ky.)
• Richard L. Sohns Jr. (Texas)
• Kiely Lenore Strohmaier (Wash.)
• L. Kyle Summerlin (Fla.)
• Han Sun (N.C.)
• Michael Triano (N.J.)
• Matthew Thomas Van Buren (Pa.)
• Tracie Megan Wise (Fla.)