Master’s student earns $10,000 scholarship from accounting board

Nicolas Giallombardo, a student in OU’s Master of Accounting Program, is one of only 207 students in the country to receive a $10,000 scholarship from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). 

The PCAOB Scholars program benefits outstanding students who are likely to become accountants and auditors. Scholars are nominated by representatives from their educational institutions. Donna Free, a special instructor in Oakland’s Accounting Program, nominated Giallombardo for the award. 

To qualify, students must meet various requirements, including possessing an overall GPA of 3.3 or higher or being in the top third of their overall class. They also must demonstrate high ethical standards.

Giallombardo graduated last spring with his bachelor’s degree in accounting and will begin working on his master’s degree this fall.

“I’m extremely excited about winning the scholarship,” he said. “I’m paying my own way through school, so the additional $10,000 from the PCAOB is a huge help. Now I’ll be able to graduate nearly debt-free.”

Giallombardo is active in the Oakland Accounting Students Information Society (OASIS) and has done three sales/corporate strategy internships with Aptiv (formerly known as Delphi) in Troy. He also did an audit internship with Plante Moran in Clinton Township and plans to join the company full time after graduating with his master’s degree.

PCAOB, a nonprofit corporation that oversees auditors of issuers and broker-dealers, has awarded academic scholarships to undergraduate and graduate accounting students since 2011.

For a full listing of this year’s PCAOB scholarship recipients, visit the web page.