Marriott School Accounting Teams Take Top Honors at National Tax Competition

PROVO, Utah — Dec 01, 1998 — Two teams of Marriott School students entered the nation's largest student tax competition armed with only their pens, pencils, and calculators. Seven hours later, they walked away with first- and second-place honors and $30,000 in scholarship money.

The Arthur Andersen Tax Challenge, sponsored each year by the Big Five accounting firm, awarded Brigham Young University's undergraduate team $20,000 for their first place finish. The graduate team finished in second place and received an additional $10,000 in prize money. Students from the BYU's Marriott School are the first to place in the top three in both the undergraduate and graduate divisions.

"These victories serve as reminders that we are educating our students not only to earn degrees, but to enter the workplace prepared to deal with real world situations," said Ned C. Hill, dean of the Marriott School. "We are also encouraged by the fact that the Marriott School was one of only two universities whose undergraduate and graduate teams were represented in the final competition."

The collegiate competition, designed to stimulate student interest in the field of taxation, provides university students studying tax an opportunity to display the skills they have acquired as well as earn money for their respective programs.

This year, 114 teams from 91 universities entered regional competitions held across the country. From these regional contests, the top ten graduate and undergraduate teams earn the right to advance to the national competition, held November 21 at the Arthur Andersen Center for Professional Education in St. Charles, Illinois.

At the competition, teams of up to four students use their tax knowledge to develop a series of recommendations and solutions regarding the business and financial dealings of a fictitious taxpayer. Teams are given seven hours to read and solve the case, using only the Internal Revenue Code and Treasury Regulations as resources. At the end of the seven-hour time limit, each team prepares a written report evaluating the client's situation and makes tax-planning recommendations. A panel of Arthur Andersen judges evaluates the report.

According to Marriott School professor Ron Worsham, who served as advisor to the graduate team, much of the students' success stems from the way tax is taught at BYU. "Our students know how to read the Internal Revenue Code," said Worsham, "so they enter the competition prepared for almost anything."

The first-place undergraduate team consisted of Karen Wisan, Jamie Nielsen, Emily Gertsch and Ben Hays, with Professor Brian Spilker acting as advisor. The second-place graduate team, advised by Professor Worsham, consisted of Jeff Wurtz, LeeAnn Hubler, David Marx, and A.J. Busby.

The 10 competing graduate level and 10 competing undergraduate level teams were required to digest and assimilate a wealth of client information in reviewing the client's current tax position, perform required calculations, and recommended tax planning strategies. Added to the challenge was the fact that the students had only seven hours to complete their work.

Arthur Andersen is a business unit of Andersen Worldwide. The Andersen Foundation, an entity dedicated to promoting educational and civic well being provides the Tax Challenge scholarship awards.