CommerceUVA Fall 2007 (Investors' Report) - McIntire School of ...

McIntire students post another strong finish at the AAF national competition.
Comm School Students Earn National Honors in Auditing and Advertising Competitions
McIntire students achieved stellar results
in high-level competition against peer
institutions during the spring semester.
An outstanding team of U.Va. and Mc-
Intire students earned a first-place finish
in the final round of the inaugural KPMG
National Audit Case Competition, and
McIntire students posted a strong finish
in the final round of the American
Advertising Federation’s National Student
Advertising Competition.
Auditing Applause
The team of students competing in the
KPMG National Audit Case Competition,
held April 15 and 16, 2007, in New
York City, included three McIntire
students, Ashley Albers (McIntire ’07),
Jennifer Clifton (McIntire ’08), and
Robert Duncan (M.S. in Accounting
’07), as well as College student John
Thornton (A&S ’09).
KPMG developed the competition to
heighten students’ awareness of the highly
technical, judgment-laden accounting
and auditing requirements demanded by
complex financial transactions.
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.
“There’s really no right or wrong
answer,” team leader Duncan explains. “So
you have to be able to very clearly explain
why you made the judgment calls you did.”
The students were richly rewarded
for their skills, knowledge, and coolheadedness
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 $3,000
each.
Advertising Accolades
McIntire students also finished strong in
the American Advertising Federation’s
national competition, held June 7, 2007,
in Louisville, Ky. This
year’s presenting team,
made up of students
Siobhan Cleary
(McIntire ’07), Meg
Hein (McIntire ’07),
Irang Im (McIntire
’07), Lauren Radow
(A&S ’07), and Meggie
Schuelke (McIntire
’07), earned a sixth-place finish in the
highly competitive event.
The team’s strong showing in Louisville
followed a first-place finish in the
competition’s regional round—the fifth
year in a row that students in Professor
Jack Lindgren’s “Campaigns” class have
done so. The students’ advertising campaign
focused on building Coca-Cola
Classic’s brand strength among multicultural
13- to 24-year-old consumers, as
well as increasing consumption in that
demographic.
“We focused our efforts on creating a
more interactive coke.com experience to
increase the relevance of the brand to this
target group,” team member Cleary says.
The National Student Advertising
Competition, in which more than 200
colleges participate, is the “premier college
advertising competition,” according to
the AAF.
Fall 2007 • 7