Accounting Students Win National Competition

For winning the finals of the xTax Campus Competition, a team of UW-Madison accounting students received the Alexander Hamilton award.

A University of Wisconsin-Madison team of accounting students has won a case competition sponsored by accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The UW-Madison was one of 21 leading business schools asked to participate in the competition and one of five teams to make the finals.

The national finals of the xTax Campus Competition were held in Washington, D.C. February 1 and 2. The five-person team, composed of two sophomores, one junior, and two fifth-year students, already had won $15,000 for making the finals.

For winning the competition, the team received the Alexander Hamilton award and a trophy to take back to Wisconsin. A permanent trophy engraved with the name of the UW-Madison School of Business was put on display at the Washington National Tax Services office of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The team earned its place in the finals by submitting a presentation to PricewaterhouseCoopers partners in Milwaukee that was videotaped and then sent to the Washington, D.C. office. For the competition, the team's assignment was to make a presentation to a fictional island country on ways to change its tax policies to accomplish specific goals.

The team earned its place in the finals by submitting a presentation to PricewaterhouseCoopers partners in Milwaukee that was videotaped and then sent to the Washington National Tax Services office of PricewaterhouseCoopers. (View videoclips of their presentation here. ) The team repeated the presentation to members of the National Tax Services Office and corporate executives visiting Washington. (The UW-Madison was one of 21 leading business schools asked to participate in the competition and one of five teams to make the finals).

Associate Professor of Accounting Jon Davis, who has been the faculty advisor to the team, said, "this competition has provided a really valuable venue for students to develop critical thinking and presentation skills". Accounting Lecturer Al Talarczyk also helped coach the team of Lisa Pritzkow, Heidi Kain, Brad Krutsch, Tatyana Levshetz and Brian Taylor.

Wisconsin accounting students also succeeded in the Tax Challenge, sponsored during the fall semester by accounting firm Deloitte & Touche. The Wisconsin team was one of six finalists out of almost 100 teams compete in the Deloitte & Touche event. The Wisconsin team earned a trip to Orlando where it competed in the national finals. It did not place first or second, the only two places announced, but just making the finals was a major accomplishment according to Professor Davis, who coached the team of Liz Dega, Jensen Jacob, David Sills, Scott Hoover, Scott Forbord and Malisa Lemmer.