RCB Bank’s Vaught Passes Final CPA Exam
WINFIELD,
Kansas – RCB Bank
Lead Accountant Michelle Vaught has a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.
Especially after recently learning
she passed the Certified Public Accountant Examination.
Vaught said becoming a CPA is
something she’s wanted to do “as long as I can remember.” She took the fourth
and final CPA exam on Oct. 18 and found out she passed earlier this month.
It’s the continuation of a process
that saw her earn her college degree in 2014. Vaught started studying for the
CPA in November of 2018, but her youngest daughter got sick. She already had
her test scheduled, so she took the exam but did not pass. Her daughter’s
illness required surgery, so Vaught took a year off to help the recovery
process before starting her studies again at the end of 2019.
“I thought I would go to college
right out of high school, but I started a family,” Vaught said. “But becoming a
CPA was always in the back of my mind.”
Vaught has worked at RCB Bank’s
Winfield location for more than 20 years (RCB Bank acquired CornerBank in
2016).
“Michelle started as a teller in
April 2001 and has been an integral part of the accounting department since
2002,” said Vaught’s boss Marsha Woods, who is VP Accounting Manager at RCB
Bank. “We are proud of her accomplishment in achieving her goal while enhancing
her value to us in the accounting department.”
Vaught said while working for
CornerBank in 2008, there were rumors that it was to be sold and her and other
employees’ positions would be eliminated, so she started searching for a job.
“Everyone wanted experience and a
degree,” Vaught said. “I had lots of experience but no degree.”
So in the summer of 2009, she
started pursuing her college degree, which she obtained in 2014.
“My husband teases me that I’ve
been sitting at the kitchen table for 10 years,” Vaught said, referring to all
the time she spent studying for both her degree and CPA.
While studying for her degree,
Vaught’s parents both became sick, and her dad passed away not long after she
told him that she had graduated from college.
Vaught said after receiving her
degree, “there was no stopping now.”
“I was thinking ‘You’ve been doing
this online, and you need to keep going,’” Vaught said. “My dad always pushed
me to keep going. That’s part of why I never dropped the ambition to just go
for it.”
She passed her first CPA test in
July 2020 and “kept going from there.”
Vaught spent her lunch hours with
her office door closed studying. Then she’d get home from work and study 3 to 4
hours each evening. Weekends were spent studying, too, between 4 to 6 hours
each day.
“I’ve never really had to study this
hard for anything in my life,” Vaught said. “I didn’t anticipate how hard I
would have to study. I had my laptop with me everywhere, and I had an app on my
phone to help me study. If I was waiting somewhere, I’d pull out my phone and study
while I waited.”
Her work ethic is not lost on her co-workers.
“She reached that goal through
determination and dedication,” Woods said. “She studied several hours a day,
even during her lunch hours, evenings, and weekends all while raising a
family.”
Vaught has four children – three
grown, and one 8-year-old.
“When I started the CPA exams, my
son had just graduated high school,” Vaught said. “Now he’s a junior in college.”
Despite a full load of studying,
working and raising a family, Vaught also finds time to volunteer in the
Winfield community. She is heavily involved in Big Brothers Big Sisters and
named the 2018 Outstanding Community Advocate by the Winfield Area Chamber of
Commerce.
“She gives both her time and
ability to help others who are in need,” Woods said. “An example is her leading
the bank’s campaign, for over 15 years, to raise funds for Big Brothers Big
Sisters of Cowley County.”
With all the studying, Vaught said she
didn’t have much extra time – and that is something she is looking forward to
recapturing.
“I look forward to spending time
with my family and my horses,” Vaught said. “I haven’t been able to do that as
often as I’d like because I’ve been studying. I’m looking forward to being able
to have my grandkids over more often to have some fun family time and spending
more time with my mom, too.”
