AICPA Names Winner of New Scholarship for Financial Planning

The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) has announced Jeremy Weaver, CPA/PFS, a financial planner and investment manager with PlanFIRST, Inc. in South Carolina, has been awarded the 2015 P. Thomas Austin Personal Financial Planning Division Scholarship. Weaver was presented with the scholarship earlier today at the AICPA Estate Planning Conference in Salt Lake City.

Weaver was honored for his work providing estate planning services for families with special needs children in the Greenville, South Carolina area. The P. Thomas Austin Scholarship is awarded each year by the AICPA to a CPA with five to 15 years’ experience who practices estate planning or is a member of an estate-planning organization. The scholarship covers the cost of attending the AICPA’s Estate Planning Conference as well as the related travel expenses.

“Jeremy’s strong desire to protect and help those who are unable to help themselves, particularly serving families with special needs children in his home state illustrates the important role that CPAs play to protect estates, beneficiaries, and families” said Robert Keebler, CPA/PFS, Chairman of the AICPA Advanced Estate Planning Conference.

The Institute established the scholarship in 2010 to encourage young CPAs to use their financial expertise in the practice of estate planning. The scholarship honors P. Thomas Austin, who chaired the Advanced Estate Planning Conference for three decades and is now chair emeritus. Austin currently specializes in estate and financial planning. Formerly with Ernst & Young, he serves as a consultant to CPA firms, law firms and professional organizations.

Eligible applicants must hold a valid, unrevoked CPA license issued by a qualified state board of accountancy, be a member in good standing with the AICPA, have five-to-15 years of experience as a CPA and less than five years of experience in estate planning through practice or relevant membership organization.