Owensboro, Ky. (June 2, 2015) – Kentucky Wesleyan College is pleased to announce that the college’s accounting students who sat for the certified public accountant exam in 2014 outscored every other college in the state with an average score of 84 percent. In addition to the No. 1 ranking, Kentucky Wesleyan students were third in the state for pass rate at 76.5 percent, with a higher pass rate than any state university in Kentucky.
“Kentucky Wesleyan has an incredible track record of producing business leaders including, but certainly not limited to, accountants. So, while we are very pleased about our graduates’ scores on the CPA exam, they are certainly consistent with our expectations,” President Barton D. Darrell remarked. “The results reinforce why Wesleyan is such a great place for business and accounting career preparation. Not only do we provide an education that includes interpersonal and critical thinking skills, but we also provide the business and accounting skills that allow our graduates to excel at the highest professional levels.”
“We are thrilled and very proud of our students,” responded Associate Professor of Accounting Raju Chenna. “We integrate real-life experiences into classroom instruction, and we make textbooks come alive. We also have valuable partnerships with local accounting firms that provide internships to our students, and these firms share in our students’ successes.”
Assistant Professor of Accounting Agnes Church said, “Our classroom standards are very high, and we do a lot of review for the CPA exam as a part of course work. Our students also know we are always available and will do anything to help them. That is one of the values of a small college.”
Heath Williams, a 2014 Wesleyan graduate and now employed with BKD, LLP in Bowling Green, was one of the Kentucky Wesleyan students who took the exam last year. ““I wasn’t really surprised at how well Wesleyan students did because we were fully prepared and motivated. The accounting and business professors are outstanding, and I was fortunate to have two internships with Becky Whitehead at Ebelhar Whitehead, PLLC in Owensboro during two tax seasons. The small class sizes at the college were crucial to our success, especially in the upper level classes. We got all the attention we needed from our professors and had the opportunity to discuss issues and questions. That would not have happened in a large university.”
Adam Hancock, a 2005 Wesleyan graduate, is a CPA and a Certified Valuation Analyst and Certified Fraud Examiner with Riney Hancock CPAs PSC. He said of the announcement, “This is amazing, but not surprising, and speaks to the strength of the Wesleyan accounting program and to the quality of students the college attracts. The exam is extremely difficult, and I offer my congratulations.”
CPA Rebecca Whitehead of Elbelhar Whitehead PLLC and a 1983 Wesleyan graduate, said, “I am very proud of my alma mater’s ability to prepare students for the public accounting profession. Wesleyan students we have employed as interns are very well prepared. They speak very highly of their professors; not only of their teaching abilities but of their care for each student as an individual. They go the extra mile for their students and it shows.”
Sara Fleischmann, a May 2015 graduate of Kentucky Wesleyan, will take the first section of the CPA exam on July 1 and begin employment at Riney Hancock on August 1. “I was studying for the exam when I got the news that Wesleyan students outperformed any other college or university in the state last year. Wow! I know the exam is very difficult, but a great deal of our classwork was focused on exam preparation. I am confident and feel prepared, and I am very grateful for my professors and their personal attention. The one-on-one interaction was a huge factor.”
-Kentucky Wesleyan College-
KWC students No. 1 on CPA exam
By Keith Lawrence Messenger-Inquirer | Posted: Monday, June 8, 2015 12:00 am
Kentucky Wesleyan College’s accounting students were top in the state on the CPA exam last year, the school has announced.
The accounting students who took the certified public accountant exam in 2014 outscored every other college in the state with an average score of 84 percent, the college said.
And the KWC students had the third best pass rate at 76.5 percent — better than any state university in Kentucky — the announcement said.
“I credit it to the high level of faculty involvement in career readiness,” KWC President Barton Darrell said. “We really push career readiness at Wesleyan.”
He also attributed the ranking to “the quality of our students. We have some great kids. Forty percent of our graduates this year were first-generation college students.”
The size of the college — 709 students last fall — also played a role, Darrell said.
“I wouldn’t expect the larger public institutions to be able to devote as much attention to each student as we can,” he said.
Darrell said the college has “an incredible track record of producing business leaders. Not only do we provide an education that includes interpersonal and critical thinking skills, but we also provide the business and accounting skills that allow our graduates to excel at the highest professional levels.”
Raju Chenna, an associate professor of accounting, said KWC “integrates real-life experiences into classroom instruction and we make textbooks come alive. We also have valuable partnerships with local accounting firms that provide internships to our students.”
Agnes Church, an assistant professor of accounting, said “classroom standards are very high and we do a lot of review for the CPA exam as a part of course work. Our students also know we are always available and will do anything to help them.”