Beedie undergraduates victorious at local KPMG Ace the Case competition

Beedie undergraduates Alex Mason and Mthabisi Mhlanga were part of the winning team at the local stage of the 2015 Ace the Case competition. From left to right: Mthabisi Mhlanga, team member Kathy Huang, team member Kimberly Chang, Alex Mason, Kate Vondette, KPMG Manager of Talent Acquisition, Sarah Patterson, KPMG Talent Attraction Coordinator, and KPMG Staff Accountant Brandon Tracey.

Two undergraduate students from the Beedie School of Business will compete for the chance to represent Canada after emerging victorious at the KPMG Vancouver Ace the Case Competition.

BBA students Alex Mason and Mthabisi Mhlanga, along with UBC students Kimberly Chang and Kathy Huang, formed the winning team at the local stage of the Ace the Case competition and will now go on to compete at the National competition, to take place on Friday, March 6 in the KPMG downtown Vancouver office.

The KPMG Ace the Case program consists of three stages of competition: local, national and global. The competition comprises a two-day workshop and competition hosted in each of KPMG’s four national offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal.

The workshops are designed and delivered by KPMG and geared towards first, second and third year commerce students with a long-term interest in pursuing a professional public accounting designation.

“The Ace the Case experience was one of the best I have had as a student so far,” says Mason. “It was challenging, but at the same time extremely rewarding, and I am very grateful that I was chosen to compete for the chance to represent Vancouver at the National stage.”

Mason and Mhlanga, who were coached in the program’s case writing skills workshop by Bruce Densmore of Densmore Consulting Services, were selected from over 200 applicants to participate in the competition.

Should the pair be successful at the National Competition they would then advance to compete on the global stage at the KPMG International Case Competition, to be held in Dubai, UAE, in April.

“The Ace the Case competition forced me out of my comfort zone and taught me how to work better in teams and to make the best of every opportunity,” says Mhlanga. “The training that we received from our mentors was a huge factor in our ultimate success, and both they and my teammates made the experience very enjoyable.”

Mhlanga is also one of sixteen Beedie undergraduate students selected this year to participate in the Beedie Student Leadership Development Program. The program, a partnership between the Chartered Professional Accountants (CPA) and Beedie’s Career Management Centre and Business Co-Operative Education, pairs students with experienced mentors from the professional accounting industry, and hosts monthly workshops presented by industry professionals and experts.

For more information on the KPMG Ace the Case program, visit https://www.kpmg.com/ca/en/careers/students/student-programs/pages/ace-the-case.aspx