Joy JuedesWhen she scored 99 on the last section of the CPA exam, Kelly McCarty ’22 didn’t believe what she was seeing.
“I got the final score back and called two of my friends and said, ‘I don’t think this is right,’” says McCarty, who double majored in accounting and economics at Chapman University.
McCarty scored an average of 95.75 across all four parts of the 2023 Uniform CPA Examination, making her one of 40 people who received the prestigious Elijah Watt Sells Award for that score. More than 86,000 people took the exam last year.
McCarty is only the second known Chapman graduate to receive the award — the first was Michael Koll ’10. McCarty was just one of two alumni of California universities to win the honor this year.
“The fact that we have had two students receive this award in a little more than a decade is a huge accomplishment for a program of our size,” says accounting Assistant Professor Lacy Willis.
Not only that, Kelly’s mother Kathy McCarty received the award when she took the exam in 1987.
“Lightning struck twice,” says Kelly’s father Conrad McCarty, who is also an accountant.
Kathy McCarty says she is very proud of her daughter, who has always been a “highly motivated and competitive person when she sets her mind on something.”
The Elijah Watt Sells Award was established by the American Institute of CPAs a century ago to recognize outstanding performance on the CPA exam and to honor Sells, one of the country’s first CPAs and a founding member of the firm now known as Deloitte.
“I am proud of all of our accounting graduates and their success in completing the CPA examination. But Kelly’s accomplishment sent me over the moon,” Willis says.
McCarty, who works in the audit department of KPMG’s Denver office, says she didn’t go into the exam thinking she’d get the award and didn’t feel pressure to.
“It was just a fun fact I found out after I got it,” she says.
Her mother was excited to hear she got such a high score.
“She had worked hard and studied hard for it,” Kathy McCarty says.
Willis says Kelly’s success assures accounting faculty that they’re doing something right.
“Kelly is extremely hard working and talented. We are proud to be a part of her journey,” she says.
Kelly’s journey included playing softball for Chapman and starting as an undeclared major. She took an accounting class as an elective her first year, and decided to double major in accounting and economics her second year. She liked getting to know her professors, which was easy because of the size of the university.
“She met a lot of really great people playing softball and she made a lot of good connections and friends in her accounting classes,” Kathy McCarty says. “And I was impressed to see the good relationships she had with her professors.”
“I got advice from them on the CPA exam and applying for internships,” Kelly says. “Now, if I have questions, they can answer them. I really value those connections from my time at Chapman.”
She interned at KPMG in St. Louis, which led to the offer of her current job. Her parents met at KPMG.
“My husband and I started as CPAs, it’s a great stepping stone to other careers,” Kathy McCarty says.
The fact that Kelly did so well on the exam speaks well of not only her but her professors and Chapman, Kathy says. Looking back, Kelly sees how her professors structured material to align with the exam.
“I could relate what I learned in college to the review course,” she says.
She began studying soon after graduation and then started working. When she was finally notified of the award, “that was exciting because I could tell people,” she says. “I celebrated with family and friends and my team at work.”
The exam has changed somewhat since her parents took it, “but it’s still hard as can be,” Conrad McCarty says.
“She’s got accounting genes,” he says of his daughter.
