Southeastern business students win case study competition
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
by: Rene Abadie
SOUTHEASTERN FINANCE TEAM TOPS IN COMPETITION – A team of Southeastern Louisiana University business and finance students took the top prize in a Louisiana competition sponsored by the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG). Pictured are, from left, team members Austin Polk, Hannah Reeves and Nick Byrd and faculty advisor Danielle Lewis.
HAMMOND – A team of three Southeastern Louisiana University business and finance students
have captured first place in a regional competition designed to provide real world
experience in mergers and acquisitions, investment banking, and finances.
The Southeastern team, comprised of Nicholas Byrd and Austin Polk, both senior
finance majors from Denham Springs, and Hannah Reeves, a senior business administration
major from Franklinton, competed in the third annual Association for Corporate Growth
(ACG) Energy Case Competition held recently at LSU. Danielle Lewis, Joyce Junguns
Professor of Finance, served as faculty advisor to the team.
“We pulled numerous all-nighters, and it was so rewarding to see our hard work
pay off,” said Reeves, who prepared several spreadsheets correlating the price of
oil per barrel to each company’s income statements, a task that impressed the judges.
“The competition pulled me out of my comfort zone and challenged me to learn a lot
of material very quickly, which was a great confidence boost. I feel much more confident
about going into the ‘real world’ now.”
“Our team demonstrated the skills, knowledge and experience they have gained
through their courses and close interaction with their instructors,” said College
of Business Interim Dean Antoinette Phillips. “We are extremely proud of their representation
of Southeastern, especially since the judges indicated their product was more in line
with the graduate level competition.”
Lewis said teams were given two weeks to prepare an oral presentation supported
by PowerPoint and a handout that analyzed a hypothetical business scenario for an
energy-related company. The case study was primarily finance related but also incorporated
accounting, management and marketing elements. Students worked from documents provided
that included a memo from a chief executive officer outlining the situation, a series
of financial statements, and some supplemental information.
“The competition simulates real world scenarios,” Lewis explained, “and ACG strives
to make the competition as realistic and valuable as possible for the students.”
She said the students worked outside of class on the case study, using the background
provided by ACG and the College of Business Bloomberg terminals, which provide students
with access to up-to-date stock and financial information.
Byrd, who had participated in the competition last year, served as the unofficial
leader of the group, even while carrying 18 credit hours, renovating his home due
to flood damage, and starting an internship at First Guaranty Bank.
“I feel that I gained experience on what it would be like as a junior level investment
banker,” said Byrd. “The ACG Cup is supposed to simulate the stressful environment
of investment banking, and I learned that I liked the pressure and excitement that
comes with it. The competition made me realize I enjoy the investment banking culture,
specifically mergers and acquisitions. I consider that a real potential career path.”
He added that the classes he has taken at Southeastern and faculty members such
as Rakesh Duggal, who taught his mergers and acquisitions course, helped prepare him
for the challenge. “We’ve learned how to think critically and creatively and
how to use the tools we’ve learned in finance classes to answer open-ended questions,”
he explained.
Polk said one advantage his team had was the group had worked together on different
projects and knew how each other worked. “Like any group that works together, we had
our differences, but we got the job done to the best of our ability.”
“The ACG Cup experience was extremely challenging but rewarding when it was all
said and done,” said Polk. “It gave me insight regarding mergers and acquisitions
that I could not gain in the classroom. But Southeastern has prepared me to think
critically, which is one thing required for this competition.”
“I’m very proud of our students’ performance,” said Lewis. “They recognize that
their skill sets, coupled with hard work and commitment, pay big dividends. Our finance
program’s successes in competitions are consistently demonstrating there is a lot
of ‘bang for your buck’ at Southeastern, and our students are capable of successfully
competing against others at a wide range of universities, both locally and nationally.
These successes are proving very valuable in connecting students with work opportunities.”
The ACG Cup is the second first place award Southeastern business students have
won in recent months. Earlier in the year, a four-student team won a national competition
sponsored by the Washington, DC-based Conference of State Bank Supervisors, a nationwide
organization of banking regulators. In addition, Southeastern finance students placed
second in the 2014 ACG Cup competition.
ACG Louisiana is a non-profit organization that facilitates the networking of
business professionals in Louisiana and the surrounding areas.