And the Winner is…
At a time when the future talent shortage within the tax profession is an issue of critical concern, the sixth annual Deloitte Tax Case Study National Competition put the spotlight on the skills of future tax professionals who will fill the pipeline and help to solve the tax challenges of the future.

At the Deloitte Foundation’s national competition awards ceremony held in Orlando, the University of Denver took top honors in the Graduate Division and Brigham Young University in the Undergraduate Division.

“Every team competing in the finals made us proud to again host this competition,” said Shaun Budnik, president of the Deloitte Foundation. “Each of the national teams participating offered insightful responses to the complex case study and earned our confidence about the caliber of professionals that will be working within our industry in the future.”

The first place schools received a $10,000 award and each team member of these first place schools received a $1,000 scholarship. In addition, Brigham Young University is heading home with second place honors in the Graduate Division. The College of William & Mary was awarded second place in the Undergraduate Division. These teams will each receive $500 per student and $5,000 per school.

Teams that did not place first or second in their respective division received national finalist awards. National finalists from each division included:

• Graduate Division: Georgia State University, University of Southern California, Utah State University, and the College of William and Mary
• Undergraduate Division: University of Denver, The Ohio State University, University of Southern California, and the University of Wisconsin – Madison

A $250 award was given to each national finalist student and $2,500 for each school.

“Not only did each team compete at a very high level, but these tax students cracked the code—the tax code, that is—of the real-world, complex tax problems we presented to them,” said Chet Wood, chairman and chief executive officer of Deloitte Tax LLP. “At Deloitte, we are committed to helping develop the next generation of tax professionals. These students have proven that they are future leaders of our profession.”

A month earlier…
To get to the national competition, nearly fifty teams from 35 colleges and universities competed in the tax case regional competitions, which were held in October in Atlanta, Boston, Columbus, Denver, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, New York City, and Salt Lake City.

The top 12 teams—six undergraduate and six graduate—were selected to go to the national competition.

“In the collegiate world, the national and regional case studies competition are the premier events of their kind,” said Chet Wood, chairman and chief executive officer of Deloitte Tax LLP. “To stay strong and competitive in the global market, American business needs a pipeline of bright tax talent, and Deloitte is honored to contribute to tax education by hosting this signature collegiate tax case study competition.”