B.J. Byrd, a UAB Collat School of Business student, was named a Public Company Accounting Oversight Board Scholar (PCAOB) and awarded $10,000 to use for tuition and educational expenses.
Byrd, an undergraduate accounting student who is minoring in information systems, was selected for the scholarship for his high GPA and his involvement within numerous student organizations.
“I’m ecstatic because this will help out me and my family and help us pay for my school,” Byrd said.
Byrd’s academic advisor, Jessica Smith, said she and accounting instructor Eddie Nabors nominated Byrd after seeing how active he was in the university’s National Association of Black Accountants (NABA) chapter and the Black Male Excellence Network (B-Men), as well as UAB’s Honors College.
“It is not common for freshman to jump into a major-specific organization and take on leadership roles” she said. “He’s a standout. His grades are outstanding, he meets with me regularly to talk through degree planning, and I see a lot of leadership potential in B.J.”
So did the PCAOB, a nonprofit corporation that oversees auditors of issuers and broker-dealers. It has awarded academic scholarships to undergraduate and graduate accounting students since 2011. As of 2021, the program had awarded 1,623 students from 474 institutions more than $16 million in scholarship funds.
For Byrd, accounting is a family tradition. He fell in love with it after watching his aunt succeed in the profession.
“I saw that she got to travel a lot and she wasn’t tied down as much as others with 9-to-5 jobs,” he said. “I saw that she traveled across America and even to Canada once. I really liked that.”
Easy access to education that could lead to job opportunities is another major component of the scholarship. PCAOB scholars are invited to network with other scholars around the county and communicate on LinkedIn.
Byrd said he’s looking forward to progressing further into his accounting courses and learning more about the profession. He plans to concentrate on business accounting.
“I like the versatility of accounting,” he said. “Everyone needs an accountant, no matter if you own a business or not. Everyone needs one for something.”