Prof. Stella Cho (middle of the front row) with teachers and students
On 8 December 2012, UIC students received outstanding results in the national Accounting Qualification Programme (QP) Case Analysis Competition 2012 held in Shanghai.
Of the three participated UIC teams, one won the first prize, another came in as runner-up, and the third team was awarded the "Merit Team Award" for their excellent performance.
It is UIC's greatest achievement in the competition by far.
The champion team with their prizes
The champion team consisted of junior students Yang Xiaoou, Chen Shuangyu, Peng Kun from the Finance Programme, and Wang Mian, a junior student from the Applied Economics Programme.
Team leader Yang Xiaoou, an Austrian Chinese, explained how the learning environment at UIC helped them win the championship. Yang said that coursework requires students to write analysis reports on actual case studies, which gave the team the experiences to get through the competition.
On the other hand, according to Yang, it is not always about finding teammates with the best grades, diversification and team work are also important attributes that contributed to their team's victory.
"Everyone did our own part for the competition. One member was good with data algorithms, another was better at speeches. We did our best to demonstrate our strengths and we were united. During the midterm exam period, all of us took time to help filling in the gap for whoever had a midterm exam coming up. I felt very touched by that," said Yang.
The runner-up team
The runner-up team included Liu Qian, Tang Jianfeng, Feng ShengZun, and Xie Yanqi, four senior students from the Finance Programme.
Liu Qian, the team leader, expressed that competing as a senior student was not easy for them. "We have to balance our schedules between preparing for the GMAT test, graduation examinations, and the competition," she said.
Liu believes that it was their continuous motivation and the support from the faculty of the Division of Business and Management (DBM) that helped them achieve the exceptional result.
"Our division dean believes the QP competition is extremely important. She gave us endless encouragements, she even invited a great number of teachers to advise us on our work," Liu commented.
The team that received the 'Merit Team Award' were Tu Zhiyue, Zhou Ting, Yang Kaicheng, and Lin Jiahao, junior students from the Accounting Programme. One of the team members, Yang Kaicheng, said that they were flattered to get into the final round and had gained a lot of valuable experience from the competition.
The winning teams and UIC faculty
Prof. Stella Cho, Dean of DBM at UIC, said UIC is the first university in mainland China to have its accounting degree programme accredited by the HKICPA , and the only institution in Guangdong to have its conversion courses accredited.'
She was particularly pleased because both the first and the second winning teams were not students from the Accounting Programme, which shows how well the DMB students have gained their knowledge in accounting. Prof. Cho encouraged students to continue to take part in similar competitions in the future as the entire process is alike to an internship experience at conglomerates.
Organized by the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (HKICPA), the QP case analysis competition is one of the few advanced accounting contests in mainland China. It requires students to demonstrate their abilities in knowledge, teamwork, leadership, and analytical and problem-solving skills through their case analysis.
The competition was performed in English and it had three rounds. The first round required each participation team to submit an executive summary with financial analysis of the business plan for a mobile phone company.
After that, 30 shortlisted teams submitted a full case analysis for the second round of competition. From those 30 teams, eight "merit teams" were selected as finalists, and they were invited to Shanghai to present speeches and answer questions from the adjudicators based on their reports.
A total of 449 teams from over 10 institutions across the country participated in competition this year, including Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Renmin University of China, and Sun Yat-sen University.
116 UIC students formed 29 teams to take part in the competition, and eight teams got into the second round. Three of those eight teams were eventually shortlisted as finalists, with outstanding results.
The champion team delivering their speech on stage.
The QP case analysis competition has been hosted annually in mainland China for four years. UIC students have been participating well in the competition since it was firstly held in 2009, one team obtained a runner-up place and the other team received a "Merit Team Award". In 2010, one team won the first place, and the other team gained a 'Merit Team Award'. In 2011, a "Merit Team Award' was awarded to UIC students.
Reporter: Wen Chin Chiu
Editor: Sze Ying Cheong
(from MPRO, with special thanks to the ELC and IJ Programme)
