AICPA Accounting Competition winners tackle national economic issues

A student team from The University of Texas at Dallas won the 2012 AICPA Accounting Competition.

This year’s competition challenged teams from around the country to advise a hypothetical presidential candidate on viable solutions to some of the nation’s pressing economic concerns—Social Security, the federal deficit, and income tax.

The winning team, named Working Capitol, received a $10,000 prize; the second place team from Albion College in Michigan received $5,000; and the third-place team from North Carolina State University received $2,500.

Working Capitol’s submission discussed their candidate’s platform on tax reform and explored the details of how they would solve the issues faced today by simplifying the Internal Revenue Code and making it easier to understand.

Members of the winning team are:

• April Crawford (captain)
• Shahrzad Azimi (member)
• Trey Sweeney (member)
• Samuel Teichelman (member)
• John Barden (faculty adviser)

Student teams from around the country entered initial proposals, and 20 were chosen to participate in the semifinals. Semifinal teams submitted video proposals to be posted on thiswaytocpa.com, and the public voted on the best ideas. Those results, and a review by an executive judging panel, narrowed the field to three final teams, which presented their ideas to a panel of judges and participated in a question-and-answer session. The awards were funded by the AICPA Foundation.

For more information about the competition or to watch the video submissions, visit thiswaytocpa.com.