Wednesday, November 17, 2004
A team of four accounting students take home top prize
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A team of four accounting students from the University of Southern Indiana took home the top prize in a four-week college case study competition. Six Indiana college case study teams, comprised of four undergraduate students and one faculty advisor, competed against each other in the fifth annual Indiana CPA Society Case Study competition in October 2004. The team members are Donovan Sexton, junior; Jamie Willis, senior; Scott Dennis, junior; and Brand Hotz, senior. Each member of the team received a $1,000 award from the Indiana CPA Society (INCPAS). Faculty advisor for the team is Jeanette Maier-Lytle, USI instructor in accounting. After the announcement, she said, “I was honored to be with the USI team when they received their first place award. “This win truly touched my heart because working with the students is what makes my position as a faculty advisor so enjoyable. This win shows the level of commitment and quality of our students.” IUPUI Kelley School of Business placed second and Manchester College placed third. Honorable mention finalists this year included Butler University, Indiana University-Bloomington, and University of Notre Dame. All 32 Indiana colleges and universities with accounting programs are invited each year to participate. This year, nine Indiana colleges entered the competition and submitted written cases. Judges chose the top six, and those schools’ teams traveled to Indianapolis for the oral presentation on October 15. Dennis, one of the USI student team members, said they had 10 days to research the case and prepare the written report. “We organized under four major issues and divided the research and writing among team members.” He added that Willis coordinated their professional look—all the men had red dress shirts, ties, and sport jackets, and Jamie had a red blouse and black suit. The team credits memberships in USI Toastmasters for giving them confidence for the presentation. Willis said, “It was a group effort. We used role play. Each was a partner in the fictional firm, complete with name tags on the lapel.” In this year’s case, student teams assumed the role of executive partner of a regional accounting firm and were responsible for preparing a presentation on the firm’s growth strategy. Teams addressed such issues as the strategic implication of a CPA firm identifying a client niche based on SEC registration status; the firm’s recommendation to clients seeking to “go public” or “go private”; the many effects of Sarbanes Oxley Section 404; and the threat of additional changes in regulation. “It’s truly a pleasure to judge the Case Study Competition and meet and interact with the future leaders of our profession,” said case study judge Jim Larkin, CPA. “Both their written submissions and oral presentations are superb, and demonstrate that they are not only intelligent and well-trained, but also that they are capable of working as a team to address a complex problem in a limited amount of time.” |
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