IMA Student and Academic Relations is pleased to announce the winner of the annual IMA Student Case Competition. Hannah Sadler and Jason Matthews from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC were declared the winning team following a live finalist presentation at IMA's Annual Conference & Exposition.

"IMA's Student Case Competition is an excellent opportunity for accounting students to develop their strategic planning, decision making and presentation skills – critical skills required for success in the management accounting profession," said Sandra Richtermeyer, Ph.D., CMA, CPA, IMA's Professor-in-Residence and a professor at Xavier University. "We're pleased to recognize the efforts of outstanding accounting students through this award presented to North Carolina State University."

In its 16th year, the IMA Student Case Competition challenged teams of accounting students across the U.S. to respond to a published hypothetical case study appearing in Strategic Finance Magazine. Teams of students analyzed the business case, developed a solution and submitted a videotaped presentation. Entries were judged by a panel of IMA members, based on organization, content and presentation technique. Four finalist teams were each awarded a $3,000 cash prize and invited to make in-person presentations before the judging committee at IMA's Annual Conference in Las Vegas in June. As final winner, the North Carolina State University team won an additional $2,000 for their school. 

"The project was challenging and made us think like an on-the-job management accountant and give a convincing presentation," said Hannah. "The competition was a wonderful experience to broaden my knowledge about the profession."

The entry that the North Carolina State University team submitted analyzed the accounting systems of a manufacturing company, which had adopted a Lean environment. The team evaluated the company's current accounting practices and made recommendations to move from traditional costing methods to Lean accounting, which would increase employee and product efficiency, reduce production time to market and provide better decision making information to management.

"The Student Case Competition showed a different side of accounting," said Jason. "The curriculum in school is geared towards public accounting, when actually there is so much more to the profession. I learned that I have more career options with my accounting degree."

IMA will continue the tradition of the Student Case Competition in 2007. The 2007 case will be published in the August 2006 edition of Strategic Finance magazine, with a February 1, 2007 deadline for entries. Please visit www.imanet.org for more information.