Team members from Centennial Secondary School working hard during the Iron Accountant competition on Tuesday. Photo by Matthew Blair
By Matthew Blair
BELLEVILLE – Quinte Christian High School took bragging rights for the second straight year after winning the 2014 Iron Accountant competition at Loyalist College on Tuesday.
The Iron Accountant, which is organized by Loyalist Accounting students, brings in seven teams of five from seven area high schools. The teams are given the task of operating a virtual bicycle-manufacturing company called Mikes Bikes. Students had to increase shareholder value and make a series of decisions around production, quality, pricing and promotion.
The teams competed in five rounds timed between 25 and 30 minutes each from 9 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. The team that made the most money at the end of Round 5 was declared the winner.
The members of the winning team from Quinte Christian High School each won $500 Loyalist tuition vouchers, Samsung Galaxy tablets and medals. The team also earns a berth in the world Iron Accountant championships, which happen in December. It will compete online against teams at all age levels from all over the globe. Last year Quinte Christian came 19th out of 89 schools.
Carol Coupland, an accounting professor at Loyalist College said the competition was created so young students could see what the accounting world is really like.
“It’s more than just bookkeeping. It’s (accounting) analysis, and making decisions and strategy,” she said. “We thought what better way to bring them into it then to put them against each other.”
Bruce Wright, the co-ordinator of the accounting program at Loyalist and one of the creators of the competition, said it’s going to help the future of students pursuing a career in accounting.
“It gives them a sense of the kind of decisions that they would have to make in accounting.”
The winning members from Quinte Christian were so cheerful after their victory that they could only come up with one word to describe the feeling.
“It’s exciting,” the team said in unison. Team member Tim Salomons said the competition is a great way to learn more about accounting.
“We don’t really get exposed to business in class. It really opens the door so you can see what it really is.”
Centennial Secondary School finished the competition in second place, with each team member winning $300 toward Loyalist tuition. Moira Secondary School finished third.
Teams begin the competition after getting instructions from Bruce Wright:
Carol Coupland discusses what the Iron Accountant means to Loyalist College:
The winning teams receive their awards during the award ceremony:
Team members from Quinte Christian School speak about their victory:
Photo gallery from the competition:
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