Quarterly eNewsletter
Third Quarter 2009 SOA News --"Where It All Adds Up!"
Special Points of Interest
Tyler Wright Receives Esteemed Award
Tyler Wright, MACC 2008 graduate from MSU, began his day at KPMG the way he normally does every day, by checking his email. This time one of the emails made his heart race. "Congratulations!" it began, and as he read on, he found that he had been awarded the coveted Elijah Watt Sells Award.
The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants presents the Elijah Watt Sells Award to the top 10 CPA candidates who attain the highest combined grades when taking all four sections of the Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination at one administration. Over 120,000 candidates take the Examination at one administration. Over 85,000 candidates took the examination in 2008.
The award was created in 1923 to honor Elijah Watts Sells, a founding partner of Haskins & Sells, which was a predecessor to the international firm Deloitte & Touche. In 1896, Mr. Sells became one of the first Certified Public Accountants under the provisions of a New York State law enacted that year. He was active in the creation of the AICPA.
The first person Tyler told of his award was Dr. Dick Williams, director of the School of Accountancy. Tyler attributes his success to the hard work that he put in during his time at MSU. He gives credit to the professors here at MSU saying, "Everything that was on the exam was covered in one of the courses that I took while at MSU, and, as a result, studying for the exam was more like a review." Tyler also used Becker CPA Review.
Tyler will receive a plaque from the AICPA that he will proudly display in his Kansas City office and he will be featured on KPMG's website later this year.
When Tyler is not working, you will find him in his newly purchased townhouse in the suburbs, enjoying one of the great eateries in Kansas City, going out with his friends, playing tennis or reading at one of the terrific libraries near his home. He loves reading about history and frequenting local coffee shops. Tyler plans to enroll in a PhD program and may be teaching at MSU one day. He offers these words of wisdom to MSU students, "Always keep things in perspective...study hard, work hard, and make sure to take time for your community, friends, family and for yourself."
Congratulations, Tyler!
Almost 50,000 Tax Forms Filed for Free
Each year as the trees begin to bud, the flowers bravely stick their heads out from the ground and people's thoughts turn to love -- the School of Accountancy's thoughts turn to taxes!
Dr. Sandra Byrd and Mrs. Kerri Tassin, along with a platoon of graduate students and School of Accountancy professors, teachers and student volunteers, have helped them e-file, at absolutely no charge, their state and federal taxes for 2008. Clients could go to one of several Boys and Girls Club locations inside Springfield, to the Midtown Library, and even to the Great Southern Bank location by Bass Pro. In addition, clinics were held on Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings in the computer lab at Glass Hall on MSU's campus.
One of the many clients was filled with praise for this free service. He said, "With the new tax laws and the disaster credits for Greene County, I wasn't sure how to get the most refund I could, but this young lady really helped me out."
The final tallies were announced for the 2008 statewide Federal E-file Tax Returns program, and their numbers are staggering! 49,287 individuals were assisted with their e-filing of taxes in Missouri this year. 131 volunteers logged in over 9,406 hours to help low income tax filers get back a total of $11,360,815 in refunds!
Missouri State University had 55 volunteers working for 4,101 hours to prepare taxes in our area. Their diligence paid off because $1,880,658 was returned to their clients in total refunds! The volunteers filed taxes for people from 17 states. 363 filings were handled for people from foreign countries that live in our area and attend school here at MSU.
It is estimated that if these filings had been paid for, and not free, the clients would have had to pay over $154,721 for these services!
VITA and LITC grants fund this project. This community outreach program continues to be so useful and successful for all who use it.
