Account of experiences from the V. Dr. Papp László Accounting Competition
The Dr. Papp László Accounting Competition will be held this year as well. Something interesting about the competition is that it is not as focused on accounting as the name suggests: there is strategy involved as in traditional case competitions. This year will be the sixth act of the competition; the application deadline is Friday, the 27th of September. This year’s season begins with this competition and the top places here will be taken into account in the HBCS Ranking. For a teaser, read the chief organizer’s account of experiences from last year’s competition.
About the competition
The V. Dr. Papp László Accounting Competition was held in Pécs between the 14th and 16th of October, 2012, organized by the Faculty of Economics of the Science University of Pécs and the Janus Pannonius College for Advanced Studies.
In the competition, students from various Hungarian and Romanian higher education institutions could compete with each other in four-member teams representing their institutions.
The 19 teams participating in the competition in 2012 came from the following 12 higher education institutions: Babes-Bolyai Science University, Budapest Business School, BME, Edutus College, University of Miskolc, Western-Hungarian University, Pannon University, Science University of Pécs, Sapienta Transylvanian Hungarian Science University, Széchenyi István University, Science University of Szeged and Szent István University.
The 13-member jury comprised of representatives of auditors, consultants, commercial companies, banks (Chamber of Hungarian Auditors, KPMG, PWC, Ernst&Young, SPAR, British American Tobacco, Interauditor Ltd., MKB Bank) and university teachers. The Honorary Chairman of the jury was Dr. Papp Lászlóné, the wife of the eponym of the competition who honored the event with her presence and assistance.
The case solving begins
The teams arrived to their designated accommodations in the early afternoon on the 14th of October, then the participants received the case study – for which they had 24 hours to solve – after the opening ceremony at 6 PM. The base of the competition was a case study which was about the Dr. Papp László Accounting Competition and the Accounting Science – Profession – Education Conference, providing an insider look into the organization of the event in the past years. The case study which was written by Krisztina Molnár, required a solution based on many different fields which manifested in a 4-page executive summary and a 20-minute presentation for each team.
In the morning on the 15th of October the case solving continued in the designated rooms in the building of the Faculty of Economics of the Science University of Pécs. The solutions were submitted at 6 PM and the ceremonial dinner provided some time to rest for the participants who continued their preparation at their accommodation for the presentations in the semifinals and finals that took place the following day.
Finals and results
Based on the submitted executive summaries the teams were assigned to four semifinal groups. In the semifinals, teams had chance to present their solutions for the problems indicated in the case study for which they had 20 minutes, then they had 10 minutes to answer the questions posed by the jury. Afterwards the finals began where the best teams of the semifinals competed. After listening to the four finalist teams’ presentations the jury decided on the ranking which was the following:
- 1st place: Sirius, Babes-Bolyai Science University, Kolozsvár
- 2nd place: Zöldek, University of Miskolc, Miskolc
- 3rd place: FourInOne, Babes-Bolyai Science University, Kolozsvár
- 4th place: Bagolyvári mémek, Budapest Business School, Budapest
Members of the best four teams were rewarded with valuable prizes offered by the Cultura Oeconomica Foundation and the companies represented in the jury. The participants of the competition returned home with valuable professional experience.
Éva Mándity
Chief organizer
V. Dr. Papp László Accounting Competition