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Comm School Leads U.Va. Team to Victory in KPMG National Audit Competition

Andrew Serafin; Annik Boger, Campus Development Manager at KPMG; David Myers; Margaret Fowler; Roger Martin; Lyn Mandigo.

For the second year in a row, an outstanding team of U.Va. students earned a first-place finish in the final round of the annual KPMG National Audit Case Competition, held April 14, 2008, in New York City. The team included three McIntire students—Margaret Fowler (McIntire ’09), Lyn Mandigo (McIntire ’07, M.S. in Accounting ’08), and David Myers (McIntire ’08)—as well as College student Andrew Serafin (A&S ’10).

KPMG developed the competition to heighten students’ awareness of the highly technical, judgment-laden accounting and auditing requirements demanded by complex financial transactions.

In winning the competition, the team edged out four other finalist teams, from Bentley College; the University of California, Santa Barbara; The University of Georgia; and the University of Illinois. The five finalists, selected from a field of 22 competitors, were chosen based on a multi-part set of audit requirements that the teams completed between mid-January and mid-March.

The final round of competition, held at KPMG’s New York City office, involved an hour-long presentation to the mock audit committee of a hypothetical audit client. The first 30 minutes were taken up by a prepared presentation to the committee; the remainder of the hour was devoted to a Q&A session, with the committee grilling the students on the finer points of auditing.

Team leader Mandigo says that—thanks to some practice presentations in front of McIntire Accounting faculty members—the team was well prepared when it came time to face an intimidating panel of corporate judges. “They couldn’t comment on the content of our presentation,” Mandigo says, “but they helped us start to think about the sorts of questions we might be confronted with during the actual presentation.”

The students were richly rewarded for their skills, knowledge, and cool-headedness under pressure: The Commerce School received a $25,000 gift from KPMG in recognition of the students’ achievement, and the four students on U.Va.’s winning team received a total of $3,000 each. (The schools of the second- and third-place finishers received $15,000 and $10,000, respectively, and each student who completed the case received $500.)

Faculty adviser and McIntire Accounting Professor Roger Martin says the competition’s team format provides an environment in which McIntire students thrive. “Our students are so used to working in teams that a situation that demands teamwork is really a positive for them. Both years, I’ve been struck by how much fun the students had together.”
 

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