Accounting Undergraduates Take Second Place In National Case Study Competition

A team of undergraduate accounting students from the UW-Madison School of Business took second place in the Deloitte National Student Case Study Competition, held in Scottsdale, Ariz. in April. Each student earned a $500 scholarship. It was the first year the School of Business has entered the competition, which is at the invitation of the major accounting firm.

The students are all juniors in the School of Business: Megan Larkin, Scott Merten, Laura Schmitz and Erin Sondergard. Coaching the team was Associate Professor of Accounting Brian Mayhew. Two representatives from Deloitte served as a sounding board for the Wisconsin team. They were John R. Peirson, a 1988 alumnus of the School of Business, and a Deloitte partner in Minneapolis; and Patrick J. Di Stefano, a Deloitte senior manager in Milwaukee.

In the annual seminar, which is funded by contributions from retired partners of Deloitte & Touche USA LLP, student teams from six universities competed to solve real-world case studies involving complex accounting issues. The competition was won by Florida A&M. Other finalists were Indiana University, Miami University, Michigan State University and the University of Southern California.

To advance to the national program, a winning team from six campus case study seminars was selected from a group of approximately 30 students at each local competition. The competition is sponsored by the Deloitte Foundation, which supports an array of national programs, which benefit undergraduates, graduate students and faculty.