[Scottso990]

Many of you may be familiar with the famous Elijah Watt Sells Award. It is probably the most sought after and most respected award given in the accounting profession. Last year 39 out of 92,000 candidates or .04% won the Sells Award. The award is so respected that some firms, including mine, give a $20k bonus to any employee winning the award.

The award is bestowed upon candidates who have obtained a cumulative average score ABOVE 95.50 across all four sections of the Uniform CPA Examination, completed testing during the 2013 calendar year and passed all four sections of the Examination on their first attempt. What annoys me is many websites including Becker’s website states that the award is given to candidates averaging 95.5% or higher. But obviously this has not merit

Yesterday I received my grade for AUD, my last exam section. I received a 99. A score that I really did not expect and although I was happy about this it’s bittersweet. This brought my cumulative average to EXACTLY 95.5%. In the 99th percentile and borderline EWS award, but close does not mean anything. It’s very discouraging and this is pretty much me venting.

I plan to talk to as many people as I can about this issue. Im curious how common it really is. I am also going to try and see If I can appeal my lowest score BEC. Hoping that a review of my writing section could increase my score. (Please God)

Anyways, I am happy to be done with this journey, took me about 7 months while going to Grad School to complete the exam. Although very time consuming, this beast is doable. Good luck to everyone! Hopefully there will be a miracle and I will somehow win the EWS award. I have always dreamt about winning this award, and not even for the check. Ill keep this thread updated as I took to various people at the AICPA, State Board, and NASBA

REG - 95
FAR - 96
BEC - 92
AUD - 99

DONE

[txcpa13]

Thanks barely!! I didn't even notice that 🙂 Hope you get your letter soon too!

AUD - 99 (5/2013)
BEC - 93 (5/2013)
FAR - 97 (7/2013)
REG - 94 (8/2013)

[txcpa13]

Thanks barely!! I didn't even notice that 🙂 Hope you get your letter soon too!

AUD - 99 (5/2013)
BEC - 93 (5/2013)
FAR - 97 (7/2013)
REG - 94 (8/2013)

[higher_flyer]

Thanks, all!

Kitty, I don't recall exactly, but I think it was right around one week. My actual license certificate then showed up less than a week after that.

Barely and TX, like I said, the letter says “eligible for” and came from my state board not the AICPA. So I'm not really counting my chickens quite yet. The CBA letter was even an old form letter which said something along the lines of “the EWS Award is given to the top 10 scores.” We all know this is no longer the case, to begin with. And who knows if the AICPA decides to increase the minimum avg score this year. It's not over until it's over. Just an exciting possibility. Sadly I don't work at PWC, or even in public, so it won't make any difference except to pat myself on the back lol.

REG 95 Aug '12
FAR 95 Dec '12
AUD 99 Apr '13
BEC 94 Jul '13
CA PETH 94 Oct '13

[barelystayingsane]

I think you're safe, higher_flyer. The OP of this thread said that he contacted the AICPA and that they confirmed that 95.5 would be the cutoff again this year. Plus, I would imagine they would determine the cutoff before they started sending everybody eligibility letters.

[txcpa13]

@higher_flyer I work at a Big 4 firm, but not at PwC – so I won't gain anything financially from the award either… but I WILL treat myself to a nice night out if I get it!

AUD - 99 (5/2013)
BEC - 93 (5/2013)
FAR - 97 (7/2013)
REG - 94 (8/2013)

[barelystayingsane]

@higher_flyer did your letter say when they would be making the official announcement? Still no letter on my end.

[jeff]

It was March when they announced last year…if that helps (probably not)

[txcpa13]

Do you think a call to the AICPA would shed some light? Patience is not my strong suit.

AUD - 99 (5/2013)
BEC - 93 (5/2013)
FAR - 97 (7/2013)
REG - 94 (8/2013)

[barelystayingsane]

Hahaha patience is definitely something I need to work on as well. I'm currently on an audit and don't have a lot of time to step away for calls, but I did shoot the AICPA an email this morning to find out when we should expect to find stuff out. I will let you know if/when I hear anything. Could take a couple days and there's a chance they may not even get back to me.

[barelystayingsane]

Just got this email: “Your inquiry regarding the Elijah Watt Sells Award is being researched. A follow-up email will be sent within seven business days.”

This was after getting the automated “We will get back to you within 48 hours” email. My guess is that since the woman got back to me almost immediately that she was looking into it and the fact that it can't be that hard of a question to get an answer to, it shouldn't take seven business days. But I'd give them a call if you want an answer sooner. I'm assuming they could tell you right away over the phone. I'm just sadly not in a position to do that 🙁

[higher_flyer]

No, there was no mention of a timeline. Again, this was a letter from my state board, not the AICPA, simply asking for permission to give the AICPA my personal contact info. Which I found odd to begin with, since in all this process I find it hard to believe that the AICPA doesn't somehow have access to that info already. Not to mention I've been an AICPA member for over two years. Hey fellas, just look it up in your membership database!

REG 95 Aug '12
FAR 95 Dec '12
AUD 99 Apr '13
BEC 94 Jul '13
CA PETH 94 Oct '13

[barelystayingsane]

My guess is that when your letter said “notified by the AICPA that you were eligible for the award,” it meant that the AICPA sent the CBA the criteria for the EWS award this year and said, “Send letters to everyone in your database that meet this criteria,” not that the AICPA had this list of names already and sent it to the CBA. I feel like the CBA/NASBA/etc. are more likely to have exam data than the AICPA since we get all of our score-related information from them.

The above actually crossed my mind yesterday, so I emailed NASBA to find out if they knew anything. Hopefully I'll hear something from one or both of the organizations.

[txcpa13]

I did try calling the AICPA – the woman I spoke to said she could only pull up a list of previous winners and not current potential winners. It may just be that she isn't authorized to access the information since it isn't published yet, but she said the state boards would probably have more information.

AUD - 99 (5/2013)
BEC - 93 (5/2013)
FAR - 97 (7/2013)
REG - 94 (8/2013)

[barelystayingsane]

My state coordinator at NASBA was not familiar with the Elijah Watt Sells Award……..? So maybe letters come straight from the state board?

[barelystayingsane]

Got this from the AICPA: “We do not have any specific information as to when the winning candidates will be notified.” So I have no idea why the CBA would be sending out those letters… Going to try to call my state's accounting board to figure out if they have any information.

[Author]

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