Fisher alumnus wins prestigious award
Brian Krogol (MAcc ’11) was a recipient of the 2012 AICPA Elijah Watt Sells Award recognizing his outstanding performance on the CPA Examination. Of the more than 92,000 candidates for the CPA Examination, Krogol was one of only 39 whose performance met the criteria for the award.
Fisher School of Accounting alumnus Brian Krogol (MAcc ’11) is one of the winners of the 2012 Elijah Watt Sells Awards. The Elijah Watt Sells Award program was established in 1923 by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) to recognize outstanding performance on the CPA Examination. 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, and passed all four sections of the Examination on their first attempt. More than 92,000 candidates sat for the Examination in 2012. Only thirty-nine candidates met the criteria.
Brian attributes his success to his hard work and dedication in the FSOA accounting program, and states “Nothing helps better than a strong foundational knowledge…Go Gators!”
When asked about study tips and use of preparation software, Brian shared “My study habits were different for each exam. I focused on areas on which I knew I would have more trouble (i.e. Tax for REG as I am an auditor, I had less experience with tax). I left the audit exam for last because I felt the experience I gained from working in the field was even better than studying the software.” “In general, I focused on doing practice exams from the last module of the software, so that the practice exams included questions from every area of the exam. I would review all my answers carefully and made sure I understood why I got something wrong. Any particularly troublesome areas, I would watch the lecture and do all the questions for that section. By focusing on the progress exams, it helped me narrow my studies to the more troublesome areas.” Brian emphasizes that his study habits and work ethic in college were more important than the software and stated “Those first few accounting classes are especially crucial to set the foundation.”
Brian Krogol was born and raised in Miami, Florida. He was a musician before he was an accountant; playing musical instruments since he was four years old, including the piano, guitar, and trumpet. He attended New World School of the Arts, an arts magnet high school, for classical and jazz piano. Afterward, he attended the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida where he completed his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Accounting while playing in the UF jazz band and managing his own rock band. He joined Grant Thornton in October 2011 as an auditor in the Miami, Florida office. He continues to write and record music in his spare time and is currently involved in planning the opening of a juice bar in South Beach.
