November 20, 2007 - (ATLANTA, GA) - A team of four graduate accounting students from the J. Mack Robinson College of Business were named regional winners and national finalists in the 2007 Deloitte Tax Case Study Competition held earlier this month.

Rick Hearn, Donald Skola, Tatiana Kondrateva, and Olga Vitebskiy competed against teams from the University of Denver, Brigham Young University, University of Southern California, Utah State University, and the College of William and Mary. The sixth annual competition was sponsored by the Deloitte Foundation. Each team member was awarded $250 and earned $2500 for the school.

"This year, we had 50 teams from 35 colleges and universities work against the clock to complete a real-world, complex business problem that is reflective of what practicing tax professionals must address and solve in the workplace each day," said Chet Wood, chairman and chief executive officer of Deloitte Tax LLP.  "We are delighted at the high level at which these students competed, which is a credit not only to the students themselves, but also to the faculties and tax departments at their colleges and universities."

The competition presented hypothetical case studies to collegiate teams in 12 regional areas. Each team was given five hours to ponder and compose a solution to the problem. Following the competition, the judges reviewed all of the teams' entries and selected 12 winners to advance to the national finals in Orlando.