Preliminary Round

Release of Case: 14 September 2010
Submission of Essay: 17 September 2010
Release of Results: 18 September 2010

Semi-Finals

Release of Case: 18 September 2010
Submission of Slides: 21 September 2010
Presentation: 21 September 2010
Release of Results: 22 September 2010

Finals

Release of Case: 22 September 2010
Submission of Slides: 25 September 2010
Presentation and Release of Results: 25 September 2010

REGISTRATION

• Competitors must be fully matriculated Accounting students at the Singapore Management University, National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University in the Academic year 2010 /2011 Term 1. (Double Degree students in Accountancy are welcomed too)
  
  
• Competitors are to register in groups of four.
  
  
• A non-refundable $8 .00 registration fee per team is required to compete in the Preliminary Round. Registration fee is due 12 September 2010.
  
  
• No substitution of team members is permitted for the any rounds of the competition.
  
  
• Past winners in the SMU-ICPAS Accounting Case Challenge Finals are not eligible to participate in this year’s teams.

GENERAL CONDUCT

• Individuals are to treat all team members, participants, committee and faculty with respect.
  
  
• Individuals are to provide speakers with their fullest attention.
  
  
• Mobile phones must be switched to silent mode during briefings, trainings and presentation sessions.
  
  
• During presentation sessions, the use of laptops or other devices is prohibited. Kindly refrain from distracting the presenters.
  
  
• Punctuality is imperative.
  
  
• All individuals are responsible for their health and safety. Any condition requiring attention should be brought immediately to the organizing committee’s attention.

CASE PREPARATION

• All teams are given the same case.
  
  
• Cases will be released via email at the stipulated time.
  
  
• Teams are allowed to make logical assumptions when they have doubts regarding the case.

Teams are allowed to:

• refer to any material publicly available, which includes textbooks, internet etc.

ESSAY SUBMISSION

• Submissions for Preliminary Round must be sent to icpascasechallenge2010@gmail.com no later than 17 September 2010, 2359h. It is the responsibility of each team to submit their solutions by this date.
  
  
• No faxed or hardcopy submission will be accepted.
  
  
• The personal names of the competitors are NOT to appear anywhere on the case report, including appendices, text, title pages, headers and footers, and table of contents. Instead, competitors are to indicate their pre-assigned team number and team name on the cover page.
  
  
• The full report (excluding cover page, Bibliography and Appendices) is limited to 5 A4 pages using Times New Roman font size 12, double-spaced.
  
  
• The total number of pages for the entire submission is limited to 10 A4 pages.
  
  
• The top 16 groups will be chosen to compete in the 2nd round of Case Challenge. Release of Preliminary Round results and Semi-Finals case question will be done via email.

CASE PRESENTATION

• There will be 2 rounds of presentations – Semi-Finals 21 September 2010 and Finals 25 September 2010.
  
  
• For Semi-Finals, each team will be randomly assigned to one of 2 divisions – A and B.
  
  
• The winner from each division will compete in the Finals.
  
  
• A ballot will be conducted among the teams to determine the order of presentation for the Final round.
  
  
• Each team is required to give a 15-minute presentation for both rounds. Teams will be cut-off once they have exceeded the time limit and will be penalised should they continue beyond the time limit.
  
  
• 5 minutes will be allocated in each presentation for Q&A.
  
  
• The team presentation must be in Microsoft PowerPoint 2003/2007 format.
  
  
• Presentation slides must be sent to icpascasechallenge2010@gmail.com by 21 September 2010 2359 hrs and 24 September 2010 1200h for Semi-Finals and Finals respectively.
  
  
• Any late submission would be severely penalized.
  
  
• We reserve the right to deny presentation by teams who do not submit their presentation slides on time.
  
  
• No changes will be allowed to the presentation slides once they have been sent to icpascasechallenge2010@gmail.com
  
  
• All team presentation slides received will be uploaded on the laptop by organizing committee for presentation. Presentation groups, however, should have their presentation slides in a thumbdrive as backup.
  
  
• A team who arrives late for the presentation, but within 20-minute time limit, may still present. However, the team will have to stop once the 20-minute allotted time is up.
  
  
• A team who arrives late for the presentation beyond the 20-minute allotted time slot will be disqualified.
  
  
• Presentation groups are not allowed to watch presentation of other groups in the same round.
  
  
• The dress code is business formal for all presentations.

INTEGRITY

• All individuals are expected to be honourable in their conduct.
  
  
• Plagiarism will NOT be tolerated.
  
  
• Any incidences of compromise of integrity, including cheating, or any other behaviour that is deemed unfair or dishonest, are to be highlighted to committee members immediately.

For Essay Submission:

BREADTH AND DEPTH OF RESEARCH (20%)
Teams will be assessed on the range of issues covered and relevance of content with respect to the question (i.e. Risk Management)

DEPTH OF UNDERSTANDING (30%)
Teams will be assessed on the ability to highlight the relevance of the issues, apply them with regards to Accounting, and provide a comprehensive and cohesive picture

RECOMMENDATION JUSTIFICATION (30%)
Teams will be assessed on the quality of their recommendation in tackling the issues highlighted in the case, both qualitative and quantitative

PRESENTATION OF REPORT (20%)
• Structure of report (10%)
Teams will be assessed on whether format of report allows the reader to follow through the topic easily
• Fluency of report (10%)
Teams will be assessed on appropriate usage of vocabulary and grammar

For Case Presentation:

QUALITY OF ANALYSIS (60%)

• Depth of analysis (10%)
Teams will be judged on thorough usage of financial figures and inferences drawn out from those figures

• Validity of Assumptions made (10%)
Teams will be judged based on what kind of assumptions are built into their case and the validity of these assumptions

• Viability and appropriateness of recommendations (20%)
Teams will be judged based on how applicable their recommendations are to real world companies, inclusive of cost-benefit analysis and time to implement solutions

• Logic of arguments (20%)
Teams will be judged on overall soundness of arguments, specifically whether they have drawn appropriate and logical inferences from the financial figures

PROFESSIONALISM OF PRESENTATION (20%)

• Clarity (10%)
Teams will be assessed on the communication of ideas to the panel of judges, and how clear and succinct their arguments are

• Presentation Flow (10%)
Teams will be assessed on the overall sequence of presentation and whether there is a smooth transition from speaker to speaker. Please note that all members must present the case.

• Adherence to time allocated
Teams will be assessed if they can keep to allocated timings (as per competition timings) and points (to a maximum of 10%) can be deducted for exceeding the time limit. No points will be deducted for speaking less than the allocated timings.

ABILITY TO RESPOND TO JUDGES’ QUESTIONS (20%)

Teams will be assessed on whether they have answered judges’ questions with the use of financial
figures to back up their answers, and also the clarity and persuasiveness of the arguments

SMU-ICPAS Case Challenge 2009 Briefing Package

CONTACT DETAILS OF ORGANISING COMMITTEE

MEDICAL EMERGENCY

In the event of a medical emergency, please inform any of the organizing committee members. You
may preferably contact either ShunHong or Jianrong at the contact numbers given above.