Dec. 10, 2018

The regional competitions for the Deloitte Audit Innovation Campus Challenge took place on November 14-15, 2018. The University of South Carolina participated in the regional competition held in Atlanta, GA. The University was represented by faculty advisor, Clark Hampton of the School of Accounting and accounting students Katherine Field, Aaron Gulibon, Karen Gates, Katherine Bergey, Brendon Beach and Jack Graham. The universities participating in the Atlanta regional completion included University of Tennessee-Knoxville, University of Maryland, College of William & Mary, University of Virginia, University of Florida, Pennsylvania State University, Clemson University and the University of South Carolina.

Each team includes a max of two juniors/seniors and 4-6 sophomores/juniors who are full time students at the universities invited to participate, are a legal resident of the U.S., have a 3.3 cumulative GAP or higher, and are at least 18 years old. The teams are presented with a Challenge Statement which they are to consider as they prepare their presentation. The Challenge Statement for the November competition included the need for accurate information and the variety of methods of communication available to businesses. It explained the need for assurance services in public accounting and went on to present the following challenge.

“Deloitte has a reputation for objectivity, independence, and technical competence, and has the ability to field significant, diverse, multidisciplinary capabilities. To what extent and how can we capitalize on these attributes and leverage our institutional skills and capabilities to expand and broaden our assurance services in connection with less traditional, non-financial subject matters?”

Each team was given fifteen minutes to present their response after which the panel of judges made up of four Deloitte partners were given 15 minutes to ask questions.

For the Atlanta regional competition, the University of South Carolina and Clemson University were chosen to participate in the national competition April 5-6, 2019 at Deloitte University in Dallas, Texas. The teams competing at the national level, in addition to these two South Carolina schools, include Rutgers University, Baruch College, Baylor University, Louisiana State University, Michigan State University, Brigham Young University, University of Washington, University of Southern California, Colorado State University, and Howard University.

The School of Accounting is very proud of every member of our Deloitte competition team! They did a wonderful job against the competition in the regional event and we are certain they will represent us well at the nationals.