Robinson Students Take First Prize in Internal Audit Case Competition

Students at Georgia State University’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business have recently been named winners of the 2015 Internal Audit Case Competition, sponsored by Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) in Atlanta.

The GSU team included Alesha Allen, Christy Beers and Brittany Long, all students in the Master of Professional Accountancy program at Robinson. The team received top prize- including a cash prize of $1,000 each- out of eighteen other participating teams from seven different colleges and universities.

The competition, which was open to any students attending school of Georgia, operated in two phases. First, registered teams received the case from IIA-Atlanta in early October. The case involved a challenge for teams to investigate the cybersecurity risks of a publicly held company, and report their findings and recommendations to the firm’s board of directors. After submitting a written response, ten teams were selected as finalists. These finalists would have the opportunity to present their findings before a panel of judges at Kennesaw State on November 13th.

The team’s faculty advisor from the School of Accountancy was Larry Ashmore. He commented on the student’s success, saying “Alesha, Christy and Brittany fully engaged judges in a productive discussion. They documented known cyber issues and imperatives by providing references to numerous sources and were recognized for their incredible breadth of knowledge.”

The IIA-Atlanta Case Competition is now in its fifth year, and was hosted by Georgia State for the first three. The 2015 win from Robinson makes the business school the only university to win twice, with another win in 2012.

regions: Atlanta

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