Two UW financial teams experience success

Two student academic teams at UW–Madison found success this month in the complex worlds of tax law and economic policy.

A student economics team from UW–Madison won a statewide competition this week testing knowledge of how the Federal Reserve creates policy to foster a strong and stable economy.

Another team of UW–Madison undergraduate accounting students fared equally well in the fourth annual Tax Case Study Competition, a nationwide interscholastic competition sponsored by the Deloitte Foundation for undergraduate and graduate tax students.

The Federal Reserve competition, called the “College Fed Challenge,” was held on Monday, Oct. 24 at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and included teams from three other Wisconsin universities. Teams were judged on their knowledge of the Federal Reserve, responses to judges’ questions, quality of the presentation and research, and teamwork.

The UW–Madison team, all members of the Economic Student Association (ESA), consists of Neil Christianson, Dhaval Gupta, Martin Hogg, and Jane Zaboikina. The group bested teams from UW-Oshkosh, UW-Parkside, and Marquette and will move to the District College Fed Challenge championship on Nov. 7 at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

In the Deloitte tax competition, held Oct. 15, teams were given five hours to complete a complex, hypothetical case study that tests students’ knowledge on a variety of tax topics. UW–Madison was one of 12 teams selected to advance to the national finals from a field of 54 teams representing more than 40 colleges and universities. The national finals will be held Nov. 18-20 in Orlando, Fla.