Recently several teams of accounting students competed in a case competition with PwC. Martha Eining is the Director of the School of Accounting so she might be biased but she writes with glowing enthusiasm about her students:
Our students were awesome! Jamie Bay, Marci Butterfield, Shannon Charles, Michael Lewis, Mark Stevens, and myself served as faculty mentors for the eight teams, consisting of 33 students. The teams also had coaches from PwC. On Friday they presented their cases to a panel of three judges from PwC. Each team had 12 minutes to present and 8 minutes for questions.
The feedback from PwC was that both the number and quality were better than they had ever seen in a first time case challenge school.
The U was one of about 50 schools from across the nation invited to participate in the competition. The winning team from yesterday, “Accountaholics”, received $200 per member and their mentor Professor Michael Lewis received $500. Their video will be sent to PwC’s national office where they will select the top 7 from across the country. Four will go directly to the National competition, and the other three will be put on social media for a vote to see who gets the fifth spot. Teams chosen for national will get a paid trip to New York and will be joined by their faculty mentor. They will get to present their case before top PwC Professionals.
I was able to sit in all the sessions yesterday and was so proud of our students. Each team did a great job – especially since this was our first time and we learned a great deal from the process that we can use to help us improve for next year. (Yes we have been invited to participate again!) At the award dinner last night, so many students commented on the experience and how much they had learned about real world cases, presenting, and thinking through issues critically.
The members of the winning team were:
- Ben Reuling- Junior
- Wilson Ertel- Junior
- Troy Rial- Junior
- Spencer Lay- Senior
- Deanna Drollinger- Senior