With health care costs sucking up 18 percent of the GDP in the fictional country of Dutan, lawmakers are planning reform. The Dutan Business Network, representing the concerns of the country’s small businesses, is all for reform, but they want to make sure that it’s done right—and that it benefits their constituency. So, they hire a tax firm to suggest changes that could be revenue raisers to finance health care reform, and to examine what the overall impact of reforms would be for small business owners.
You are a tax accountant assigned to this task. What suggestions do you give?
How about removing employer subsidized health care and creating a free market regulated individual payer plan? How about an excise tax on entertainment consoles and the use of tanning beds, coupled with tax incentives for fitness equipment, gym memberships, and annual medical exams?
These were a few of the ideas presented by “Team Awesome,” a group of five students from Mays Business School at Texas A&M University that participated in the annual xTax Competition, a national event hosted by accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. The case competition gave students the opportunity to tackle real-world problems while furthering teamwork and presentation skills. Motivated by a shot at up to $10,000 of prize money, plus a few extra credit points in their accounting classes and the chance to hone their skills, students had two weeks to prepare a 15-minute presentation based on the case materials. Judging was provided by a panel of PwC professionals representing small business owners from Dutan.
“It’s a great learning opportunity for the students, but it’s also great for us,” said Stephen Parker ’88, who sees the event as both a recruitment tool and a training ground for future employees. Parker, who served as one of the judges for the competition at A&M, is a partner in PwC’s Houston office and the lead recruiter for his company on the A&M campus.
The partnership between PwC and schools nationwide make it possible for students to shine in a professional setting that would be impossible to recreate in an interview. In addition to the prize money, each student on the top five teams will be awarded an internship at PwC.
Team Awesome placed second out of the 22 teams from Mays to participate in the event at the local level. Of all of the competing states, Texas has the greatest number of participating schools nationwide. The number of teams from Mays is consistently more than 20, which makes its level of participation above average when compared to Baylor’s 17 teams and the University of Houston’s 15. The top team from each of the 37 schools involved in the competition nationwide will have their recorded presentation reviewed by another panel of judges, and the five highest scoring teams will advance to the national competition to be held in January in Washington D.C. Mays students were national finalists in the xTax competition in 2003 and 2004.
“Mays prepares us very well quantitatively for the workplace, but this added something qualitative, something real,” said Brian Williams, a student in the Master of Science in Accounting program and member of Team Awesome.
A unique condition of the case was that each five-person team had to be comprised of two sophomores enrolled in their first accounting class, one junior accounting major, one graduate student at any level and any area of business, and one graduate student at any level of accounting studies. This multi-generational aspect allowed for the expertise of the older students to combine with the enthusiasm and innovation of the younger set. Team members at every level were expected to participate significantly during the presentation, providing all with an opportunity to learn.
The timely issue of health care reform not only helped students to better understand the world around them but, most importantly, the xTax competition showed these aspiring young professionals how they may have a chance to make a difference in the world after graduation.
