This July Oregon State College of Business student Scott Schaub went to his parents\u2019 home and started one of the many rituals of returning students: He opened the stack of piled-up mail left in his old bedroom.<\/p>\n
Tucked away in the pile he found a two-month-old letter announcing he earned\u00a0a $10,000 scholarship from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt turns\u00a0out the letter had been sent in May, yet for some reason my parents\u00a0failed to mention they had placed all of this mail in my room,\u201d Schaub said. \u201cI don’t\u00a0think I will ever let them live that one down.\u201d<\/p>\n Congress established the PCAOB as part of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The nonprofit oversees the audits of public companies to protect investors and the public interest.<\/p>\n The act also established a scholarship for accounting students funded by penalties paid to the board.<\/p>\n This is the third year the PCAOB has awarded the scholarships. Each year it selects institutions from across the country to nominate students for the honor, and this year chose Oregon State as one of 77 to participate<\/a>.<\/p>\n Oregon State Professor of Accounting Roger Graham was impressed by Schaub\u2019s enthusiasm in one of his classes and nominated the then-junior for the scholarship.<\/p>\n \u201cScott\u2019s one of those really smart students the College of Business gets, but what I liked most was how outgoing and engaged he was in class,\u201d Graham said. \u201cHe\u2019s the kind of student professors really like because he talks in class, engages and really tries to understand the material.\u201d<\/p>\n Schaub, a dual major in accounting and finance, said he stumbled into accounting after taking his first introductory course in the College of Business.<\/p>\n \u201cI really\u00a0enjoyed the fact that the subject matter is applicable to all types of\u00a0businesses and I felt it would open doors to a variety of industries,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n