A team of four accountancy students won first place at the annual KPMG/Seattle University Financial Accounting Case Competition in April. Eight universities competed in this year’s event, and the Boise State team edged out several large schools (including the University of Portland and the University of Oregon) for the win. Team members are Mark Blaser, Michelle Dillman, Jonah Eldfrick, and Skyla Ward.
In its tenth year, this two-day event held on the Seattle University campus brings four-person student teams together from universities across the Northwest. The teams are given a financial accounting case and three hours to research how to solve the case, determine a solution, and develop a PowerPoint presentation. The topic of this year’s case was to determine the value of a family-owned company based on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization and then decide if it would be a good acquisition.
“This group of students was given a very tough case for only being sophomores. They did a great job using their resources, working together to solve the case and presenting as a team,” said faculty advisor JoAnn Wood. “In fact,” adds Wood, “after our team presented its solution to the panel of KPMG judges and won the competition, many students from other universities approached our students and asked them how they solved the case.”
Sklya Ward, one of the team members, commented, “It was such an honor to be invited! Seattle University was fun to visit and very hospitable. The competition itself was exciting, mysterious, challenging, a great learning experience, and a chance to meet and get to know people I may have never met: Boise State University students, competitors from other schools, and recruiters.”