A student team from UT Dallas has won a nationwide collegiate competition, making the university the champion for the second time in three years of an annual accounting contest sponsored by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
A plan for simplifying the U.S. tax code put the team of four undergraduate accounting majors from the UT Dallas Jindal School of Management over the top in the 2012 AICPA Accounting Competition, which was held in Washington, D.C., December 16-18. The team earned first place and $10,000.
In a contest predicated on election-year policymaking, the team advanced through three rounds of a challenge that asked them to picture themselves as campaign advisers to a fictional presidential candidate and formulate serious solutions to such pressing U.S. financial issues as the national debt, income tax reform and Social Security.
A team from Albion College placed second and earned $5,000. A North Carolina State University team placed third and earned $2,500.
More than 125 teams entered the competition, which winnowed to the three semifinalists. They competed in in-person presentations and question-and-answer sessions before a panel of judges that included directors from the U.S. Government Accounting Office and the Department of State.
The UT Dallas team this year dubbed itself Working Capitol. Last year, the team Highly Debticated placed third in the AICPA business challenge. In 2010, the team Eco Consulting earned first place in the inaugural AICPA contest.
“Three different teams, three times in a row to the AICPA case final round. I have to say that this points out that we have the best students, faculty and administration,” team adviser and UT Dallas Undergraduate Accounting Program Director John Barden said.
