Account of experiences from the VI. Dr. Papp László Accounting Competition
The road to the competition
My story could begin with a sentence often read by case competition participants: “It was a grey October morning when our heroes were looking out the window, drinking their coffee and planning the following three days. Their thoughts were around the VI. Dr. Papp László Accounting Competition and they were trying to figure out which road will take them to success.” Although I am talking about a knit team, the “home field advantage” put a heavy weight on our shoulders, our last competition together as a team had gone down six months before. In the meantime my teammate Dávid Keresztes and I took part in a preparation course for the competition so we were very excited about the event to which we went with our two other teammates: Dorottya Haris and Balázs Sebestyén.
24 hours of work and that particular 20 minutes
After the opening ceremony, at 6 o’clock we received the thick envelope that contained the case study which we began to work on immediately. We had exactly 24 hours to solve the case about the Pécs-based MEVID Zrt. and to prepare the presentation and the 4-page executive summary of our solution. All the seventeen competing teams had to create a business management and a controlling system for the company that operated in the food catering and hospitality business and which had encountered several challenges on the market over the past years. Of course the solutions had to provide answers for those challenges as well.
The 24-hour case solving was followed by a ceremonial dinner where everybody tried to relax a bit but in their head everyone was already preparing for the presentation rehearsals later on. At night each team was informed about which section they were assigned to but the order of presentations for the semifinals was not known until the draw in the morning. The night was long for the participants as the rehearsals lasted until dawn. To me the most memorable moment of the competition was when we were still practicing our presentation at 2 o’clock in the morning in pajamas in one of the meeting rooms. In the morning our team presented as the fourth team in the ‘D’ section from which we progressed to the final along with another team. In the final – where we also presented as the fourth team – twenty minutes were available for the presentation which was followed by a five-minute-long Q&A section. After the five finalist presentations, the thirteen-member jury went away to make their decision.
Lessons
The announcement of the results seemed like forever as everyone was already very excited by then. Finally our team G&A was announced last which meant the first place for us so we managed to keep the traveling cup at home. Unfortunately we have not had the chance for a performance evaluation since but I think there is always room for improvement which we can hopefully prove in the next competition. For me the biggest lesson learned during the competition was that unexpected events can occur even with a well-oiled team and it is possible that two minutes before the submission deadline you are still editing a slide. It is important on the other hand for a team to get through these as soon as possible because they need to give their 110% the next day at the presentation. Besides these lessons we left with a lot of good memories: the professional organization and the chance to get to know other teams made the VI. Dr. Papp László Accounting Competition an unforgettable experience for us.
Hereby I would like to congratulate on behalf of our team to all the participating teams and the organizers who – not cutting corners with time and energy – provided us with perfect circumstances. Moreover we would like to thank everyone who helped and supported us during our preparations!
Ármin Gulbert