IMA Team Competes As A Final Four Team in National Accounting Competition; Tenth Time USI Has Qualified

A team of students from the University of Southern Indiana placed second when they competed in the final four in the national Student Case Competition sponsored by the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA). The IMA conference, held in Las Vegas, Nevada, on June 18-22, provides students with the opportunity to network with business colleagues and remain current with the latest professional standards and trends.

This was the tenth year for USI to qualify for the national finals. Team members were accounting majors Kyle Hoeing, Olivia Meyer, and Carly Whitesell, and graduate student Aaron McCullough. Faculty sponsor was Jeanette Maier-Lytle, instructor in accounting. “The team gave their best performance on Sunday, and their recommendations were the most solid of any I witnessed throughout the team presentations.  They gave new meaning to the "wow" factor, and I couldn't be more proud of this team's diligence in working toward absolute perfection,” said Maier-Lytle. USI is also one of only two universities to have won the IMA five times.

Left to right: IMA representative with USI's Kyle Hoeing, Olivia Meyer, Jeanette Maier-Lytle, Aaron McCullough, and Carly Whitesell. Photo from IMA Facebook.

Twenty-five accounting teams from universities across the country entered the first round of IMA competition. To qualify for the finals, each team prepared a 15-minute video presentation and submitted it for blind judging. Four teams were chosen to make live presentations in the final round at IMA’s 97^th Annual Conference and Exposition in Las Vegas, Nevada. In the finals, each team’s 15-minute presentation was followed by a single common question from the judges. Judges were selected from industry and academia across the country.

The first place team was from American University of the Middle East, and other finalists were Brigham Young University and Southern Adventist University. All finalist teams received an award of $3,000.

The Student Case Competition is sponsored annually by IMA to promote sound financial/accounting analysis and presentation skills. IMA is an organization for management accounting and finance professionals, which has about 75,000 members worldwide.