Accounting Award 2016October 11, 2016 (Jackson, Miss.) - The Mississippi Society of Certified Public Accountants (MSCPA) awarded accounting major James Martin the prestigious Hamp King Award. This acclaimed scholarship is given to only one outstanding undergraduate. He also received an additional scholarship from the MSCPA Education Foundation, offered to one accounting student at each of the universities and colleges in Mississippi.

Martin, a senior accounting major from Laurel, Miss., was awarded both scholarships based on his high GPA and character. He has a 4.0 GPA in accounting and a 3.9 GPA overall. Martin is in Belhaven's Accounting Club, where he wasrecently elected club president. He also is the director of music and a member of Belhaven's Reformed University Fellowship Leadership Team.

Other memberships include the school of business dean's circle and campus recreation team. Martin worked as a private tutor in accounting, finance and mathematics. He was a teller at Community Bank and currently works as an accounting assistant at Wellington Associates. He will graduate in May 2017 and will then pursue a certification to be a public accountant, eventually working for an accounting firm in the Jackson area.

The Hamp King Award was established to recognize and honor the memory of the late Hamp King, a CPA who served as Mississippi's State Auditor for many years. Martin was invited to the Mississippi Tax Institute conference on December 2, 2016 at the Jackson Hilton to receive the award.