Accounting students at Brigham Young University have done it again! For the third consecutive year, Marriott School graduate and undergraduate teams placed among the top three schools at the Arthur Andersen National Tax Challenge.
The school's 2000 graduate and undergraduate teams both placed third at the tax challenge. Each team received $5,000 for the school’s scholarship fund.
“I believe our success in the tax challenge competition is attributed to a couple of factors,” said Prof.Ronald G. Worsham, faculty adviser for the graduate team. “First, the students selected to participate in the tax challenge are among our best and brightest. Second, our success in the competition is a reflection of the overall quality of our tax program.”
The graduate team consisted of Bryan Adams of Ephrata, Wash.; Rochelle Pettingill of Vancouver,Wash.; Tracy Ludington of Price, Utah and Heather Mabey of Walnut Creek, Calif. The undergraduate team,advised by Prof. John Barrick, consisted of Ken Hill of Reno, Nev.; Stephanie Stephan of Orem, Utah; LauraSeverson of Orinda, Calif. and Michael Barton of Blackfoot, Idaho.
“Our strategy was to divide responsibilities among the group,” said Rochelle Pettingill, member of the graduate team. “We broke the case into two separate components: compliance/dividend returns and tax planning. Our final report was close to 40 pages — all hand written.”
This year, 110 teams from 86 universities entered regional competitions held across the country. The top ten graduate and undergraduate teams earned the right to advance to the national competition, held 17-19 November at the Andersen Worldwide Center for Professional Education in St. Charles, Ill.
At the competition, teams of up to four students use their tax knowledge to develop a series of business and financial recommendations for a fictitious client. The competition tests skills in: information analysis, identification of data, issues, elections and alternative tax treatments and performance of required calculations. The only reference materials permitted during the seven-hour competition are the Internal Revenue Code and Treasury Regulations. Each team must submit a report that includes tax-planning recommendations. A panel of Arthur Andersen judges evaluates the report. Tax Challenge competition results may be viewed online at www.arthurandersen.com/TaxChallenge.
The Marriott School is located at Brigham Young University, the largest privately owned, church-sponsored university in the United States. Part of the Marriott School, the School of Accountancy and Information Systems offers nationally ranked programs in accountancy and information systems management. The Marriott School’s mission is to educate men and women of faith, character and professional ability whowill become outstanding managers and leaders throughout the
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Writer: Carrie Beckstead