National Championship for MSU
The top team from the Broad competition travelled to Scottsdale to participate in the Deloitte National Case Study Seminar on April 3rd & 4th. This event is sponsored by the Deloitte Foundation, through contributions from retired partners and this year marked the fourteenth annual seminar.
The student team worked long and hard in preparing and researching their assigned case on selection of a functional currency and advising on potential voluntary adoption of IFRS for an international diamond mining company. Their efforts paid off when they were selected as the winning team by a panel of active and retired Deloitte partners. Each student will receive a $2,000 scholarship from the Deloitte Foundation, and their successful efforts yielded an additional $10,000 award for the department.
Five other schools participated in the national seminar this year: Florida A&M University, University of Houston, University of Southern California, University of Washington, and the University of Wisconsin - Madison.
The format of the national seminar is similar to the local seminar held at Michigan State in December. The student team works with a Deloitte advisor and a faculty advisor to identify issues and to develop a research plan, devise a solution, and prepare a case presentation. Each team is assigned a different case and each team presents their case and solution to a panel of faculty advisors and active and retired partners who act as the audit committee of a client. The panel then raises questions and issues for response and discussion.
The winning team included Bardy Jaddou, Gwendolyn Lee, Mike Mehl, Nick Schall, Joe Thomas, and Andrea Silva (the team captain). Kyle Urek, audit manager, served as the team's Deloitte advisor. Andrew Hubacker, audit partner, and recruiter Dana Catania also accompanied the team to Scottsdale and advised on the final preparations. Joe Anthony served as faculty advisor.