KSBI placed first in Student Case Study Competition
10/22/2009 (Kelley Indianapolis)
The IU Kelley School of Business recently earned two of the top three honors in the annual Student Case Study Competition hosted by the Indiana CPA Society.
The Kelley team from the Indianapolis campus placed first in the 2009 competition with the Kelley team from Bloomington taking third place. Second place went to the University of Southern Indiana. The Kelley School of Business operates as one school on two campuses.
“These results are a testament to the level of talent in the accounting programs at the Kelley School of Business. Our students at both campuses are among the best in the state and continue to prove that each year in this competition,” said Associate Dean Phil Cochran.
Members of the Kelley Indianapolis student team, which won the competition for the first time this year, included Chad Beauchamp, JP Felter, David Lane and Molly Utterback. The Bloomington team consisted of Annie Feeks, Mary Koser, Sam Mynsberge and James Seever.
“The first-place results reflect the high quality of the accounting programs at the Kelley School,” said John Hassell, a Kelley School faculty member and co-sponsor of the winning student team.
“This shows the caliber of the students and how their work experience and intern experience was synthesized to reach real-world solutions in a real-world situation, which is not always easy to do,” faculty member and co-sponsor Eric Johnson said.
Beauchamp and Utterback competed last year, which the sponsors said helped the team work cohesively and prepare effectively for this competition.
“They truly functioned as a team and supported one another, which is exactly how we would want a team to function,” Johnson said.
Beauchamp agreed, saying he “wanted the new members of the team to be able to experience the dinner and presentation process. Sure, it is nice to have won the competition, but the rewards for competing in the first place—teamwork, coaching, coping with pressure—far exceeded the win.”
The 14 teams competing were given the task of analyzing an Indiana-based CPA firm with three offices and determining the best methods for the firm to weather an economic slowdown. The teams first put together a written report, from which six finalists were chosen to present an oral report on the case.
The teams were given 10 days to complete their case study, and the top six teams were given one week to prepare oral presentations, culminating on Oct. 16 when the winners were announced at the annual INCPAS CPA Celebration. All of the top six finalists received monetary prizes, with the Indianapolis team taking the $1,000 first-place award.
Kelley Indianapolis placed second in the 2008 case study competition. Kelley Bloomington took first place in the 2002 competition.
The annual competition is designed to give Indiana college students the kind of practical experience they might use as a CPA in today’s business world. All Indiana colleges and universities with accounting departments are invited to compete each fall.
