Monday, November 06, 2006
Accounting team ‘threepeats’ in statewide competition
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A four-member team of accounting students from the USI College of Business has won first place for the third consecutive year in the annual Indiana CPA Society (INCPAS) Case Study Competition. The team made an oral presentation in Indianapolis on November 3 and was recognized that evening as the winner of the competition at the organization’s CPA Celebration at Union Station. Jeanette Maier-Lytle, USI instructor in accounting and faculty coach of the accounting team for the third year, also was recognized at the event. The organization selected her as 2006 Outstanding Accounting Educator. The USI team qualified as one of six finalists to give an oral presentation after preparing a written case study. Teams from 11 universities throughout the state entered the competition. The 2006 USI team includes May Flores, senior, of Newburgh, Indiana; John Hayden, senior, of Evansville; Adam Knepp, senior, of Montgomery, Indiana; and Amy Oglesby, junior, of Galatia, Illinois. Flores also was a member of last year’s winning team. Each of the USI team members received a $1,000 award from INCPAS. The case study for this year’s competition was on the topic of peer review. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants requires that its member firms participate in a practice-monitoring or “peer review” program. The USI team recommended that the process be simplified and that the system of unmodified, modified, and adverse reports be replaced with a new certification process. Firms that qualify for an unmodiifed report would be awarded AICPA certification stating that the firm produces quality results. Certification would be for a period of five years. Firms with a modified report would receive conditional certification requiring that they qualify for an unmodified report within a year. Firms with an adverse report would not receive certification and would not be eligible for certification for a period of one year. Among its other recommendations, the team suggested not allowing the same review team to audit a firm year after year and increased training for peer reviewers. The team also suggested a recruitment campaign to increase the pool of peer reviewers. Other teams in the finals represented Butler University, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Manchester College, Purdue University-Calumet, and Valparaiso University. Teams from Indiana University-Bloomington, Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne, Saint Mary’s College, University of Indianapolis, and University of Notre Dame also participated in the competition. In the preliminary competition, each team had 10 days to prepare a written case study relating to the peer review process. Finalists were notified October 27 and had until November 3 to prepare a 15-20 minute oral presentation for a panel of four judges. A brief question and answer session followed the presentation. Representatives of Kemper CPA Group in Evansville participated in a practice session for the USI team’s oral presentation. Donovan Sexton and Andrew Eddmenson of USI’s 2004 and 2005 teams, respectively, also advised the 2006 team. According to the Indiana CPA Society, the objective of the competition this year was to challenge the students with a practical project requiring them to use their knowledge, skills, and judgment in creating value in the peer review process for firms, clients, and third party users. USI has participated in the case study competition for six years, placing among the final six teams in five of the six years. |
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