What did albert L Williams study in college?

Answer 1

Albert L Williams studied for two years at Beckley College in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania between 1929 and 1931, graduating with an Associates Degree in accounting. He supported himself during this period by running a dance band. He had been trained as a professional concert clarinetist, but the Depression made a musical career difficult and he switched to accounting, on the theory that "Accountants were always employed."

After graduation he worked as an auditor for the State of Pennsylvania and continued to study accounting on his own. He sat twice for the CPA exams, succeeding in 1934 as the youngest CPA ever to pass the examination in the State of Pennsylvania, and the only autodidact ever to pass. Since he could not afford to finish two more years at a four year college, the self-taught CPA was, for him, the only way he could get the equivalent of a B.A. and M.A in finance. Having married at 20, in the midst of the Depression, and with a wife and family to support, he had both to hold a full time job and to study accounting on his own during all his evenings, weekends and holidays.