In the fall of 2020, Megan Hartley, M.S. ’20 sent her accounting teacher a cheeky email. It read, “I guess I studied too much.” Her results from the first of four CPA exam sections were attached. She’d pocketed a 98. The maximum score possible is a 99.

In the accounting world, aspiring CPAs strive for a 75, the minimum passing score of the challenging assessment. 

“And Dr. [Ronald] Guidry would always say, if you score much higher than that, you’re doing too much,” Hartley said. “He was laughing with me and said, ‘I’ve never seen that score before.’ So it was just kind of fun.”

Within five months, she’d passed the remaining three parts of the exam, each on her first try. It’s an accomplishment shared by just 20 percent of test-takers. Yet, her results were remarkable for a different reason. 

During 2021, 72,000 people across the U.S. took the CPA exam. That’s roughly the population of Bloomington. When the dust settled, Hartley’s results were among the 57 best, placing her in the 99.92 percentile. Her performance earned her a spot on the 2021 American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Elijah Watt Sells Award list, which was published this past June.

Hartley’s name appears next to Ivy league and Carnegie Research I University alumni. Yet, for the young and humble alum, the score represents no more than a fun fact on her academic career.

“The award is really cool, but in reality, the score you get really doesn’t matter. The accomplishment is passing, getting the credential, and earning the right to be a CPA,” she said.

Undiscovered talent

Hartley’s path to success was hard-earned. She was a nontraditional student who graduated with her bachelor’s in marketing and master’s in higher education administration from Texas Christian University (TCU) in 2015 and 2017, respectively. An advisor role in Illinois State’s Office of International Studies and Programs is what originally brought her to Normal.

The free tuition perk allowed her to revisit some of her favorite undergraduate courses, including Spanish and accounting. To fit it all in, she arrived on the job an hour early and worked through lunch. But after she impressed Dr. Christophe Van Linden in his advanced accounting course, things changed.

“He found out I was just taking the class for my own interest, so he encouraged me to apply for the master’s program,” she said.

With the help of six university scholarships, including five from the College of Business (COB) and a graduate assistantship, Hartley let go of her full-time gig to go “all-in” on pursuing her passion. She completed the accounting master’s within 18 months. For her, the top reasons she was able to succeed in the program and on the CPA exam were her fellow students and her professors.

“I have nothing but great things to say about all of the faculty and staff in the College of Business,” she said. “They don’t teach only for the CPA exam; it’s not their number one goal. They did a really great job teaching the subjects well. You come out of the program able to pass the CPA exam, but you also have an actual understanding of the material and applications in the real world. They make you into well-rounded accountants.”

Among the most impactful assignments was working with 1040 and 1120 tax forms with Dr. Rachel Birkey. The associate professor teaches tax accounting, and Hartley took two of her courses. Birkey said the “Business ’Bird” routinely offered up thoughtful takes on accounting subjects in her discussion section. However, it was Hartley’s perspective on academic life that raised her teacher’s eyebrows.

“I’m incredibly proud of Megan, and she represents the College of Business very well. We are fortunate that she is an alum from our department because she is outstanding.”

Dr. Rachel Birkey

“What I think makes Megan successful is that I never got the impression that she was one-dimensional. She’s not only focused on her studies,” she said. “Especially in accounting, students can be very consumed with their work, and that can be counter-productive. But Megan had diverse interests.”

One of those interests was running, something Birkey and Hartley shared in common. In fact, they ran the Town and Gown together during Illinois State’s 2021 Homecoming celebration. The two also catch up over coffee every few months. Birkey even ribs her mentee for choosing audit in lieu of tax accounting, jokingly referring to the former as the “dark side” of the CPA world.

Nonetheless, their mutual respect only grew over time.

“I’m incredibly proud of Megan, and she represents the College of Business very well. We are fortunate that she is an alum from our department because she is outstanding.”

A methodical approach

Hartley said her performance on the CPA exam was also bolstered by keeping in contact with other master’s students.

“It was really important to see them passing different parts and doing well,” she said. “That provided more motivation. It made me feel more confident that I could do it, because I saw them go through it, too.”

Hartley used the ubiquitous albeit expensive Becker prep materials to ready herself for the exam. She was able to pay for it through a COB scholarship specifically intended for those materials.

Hartley also has a valuable tip for accounting students. She recommends they set up their plan of study with the CPA exam in mind. For example, she chose to take the financial accounting and reporting (FAR) section in the fall of 2020. In spring 2020, she enrolled in advanced financial accounting and government and non-profit accounting. Those courses complemented the content on the FAR test.

“That approach worked out well. When I was studying, I had seen everything before. There were no brand new topics, and it really felt like review as I went through the exam,” she said.

Hartley studied for three months prior to taking the first test and about eight weeks for each subsequent section. She finished the last part in the spring of 2021.

“I definitely took a little vacation after that,” she said.

What the future holds

Since graduating in December of 2020, Hartley has worked for RMS US LLP, a public accounting, audit, tax, and consulting firm based out of Chicago. Megan is part of a team within RSM’s financial services sector that manages assurance line of business. She works primarily on financial statement audits for capital market clients, which include hedge funds, prop traders, broker dealers, and clearing firms.

Hartley started her accounting career there as an intern after talking to one of the organization’s reps during the accounting department’s career fair. In August she was promoted to senior associate.

“I’m pretty happy in public accounting,” she said. “It’s definitely very demanding, but I also like the atmosphere and getting to work on a team. At RSM I know everyone pretty well, even up to the partners. They know who I am, talk to me, and value my input.”

While her path to accounting was not linear, each moment at Illinois State led Hartley to a career that fits her like a glove. While’s she’s enjoying her role, she also appreciates the many possibilities her new skills have opened up to her.

“Every company needs an accountant. If I decide I’m interested in a different area outside of financial services, or if I decide I want to work in a small or large company, there’s flexibility to do all these things anywhere in the country. I really enjoy that flexibility,” she said.

In addition to the exam, Hartley is required to complete a full year of practice before she’s officially recognized as a CPA. She’ll reach that mark by the time fall rolls around. It’s safe to say she certifiably earned those initials.