UT Dallas Team Takes Top Prize in National Accounting Contest

A student team from UT Dallas has won first place and $10,000 in a national accounting competition held by the American Institute of CPAs — the second time in three years that the University has been named champion of the annual contest.

A plan for simplifying the U.S. tax code put the team of four undergraduate accounting majors from the UT Dallas Naveen Jindal School of Management over the top in the 2012 AICPA Accounting Competition, which was held in Washington, D.C., Dec. 16-18.

Students Samuel Teichelman, Shahrzad Azimi, team captain April Crawford and Trey Sweeney made up the victorious team dubbed “Working Capitol.” John Barden, a senior lecturer and director of the Undergraduate Accounting Program, served as their advisor.

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 financial issues as the national debt, income tax reform and Social Security.

More than 125 teams entered the competition, which winnowed the field to three for the semifinal round. Those  teams then made presentations and participated in question-and-answer sessions before a panel of judges that included directors from the U.S. Government Accounting Office and the Department of State.

A team from Albion College came in second and another from North Carolina State University placed third.

The University has performed well at the AICPA contest since it began in 2010. A team called “Eco Consulting” won first place in the inaugural contest and “Highly Debticated” placed third in the last year’s challenge.

“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,” Barden said.