Accounting students’ analysis qualifies for national tax competition

Advising an entrepreneur on how to establish a business was top of mind for five Fisher accounting students who competed in the Deloitte FanTAXtic Regional Case Competition. Their unique business analysis earned them a trip to the national competition.

The Deloitte FanTAXtic Case Competition provides undergraduate accounting students from across the country the opportunity to act as tax consultants for a fictional company, analyze complex business scenarios, develop recommendations and present their findings to Deloitte tax professionals.

The regional competition included over 80 teams made up of nearly 450 students and faculty representing 59 colleges and universities from across the United States. The competition gave students the opportunity to network with tax professionals, showcase their tax and business advisory skills and gain real-world experience.

“This was a very challenging competition for me and my teammates given that we never had any experience working with tax outside of class,” said second-year student Sami Ibrahim. “The FanTAXtic case competition was an incredibly rewarding experience that allowed me to really think outside the box when it comes to tax planning and strategy.”

The Fisher team consisted of accounting students Clinton Do (fourth-year); Noah Pehr (second-year); Muse Said (first-year); Mia Zamora (third-year), and Ibrahim.

The team was guided and mentored by Kathy Wantuch, senior lecturer in accounting and management information systems; Pedro Tula (BSBA ’24), international tax consultant II at Deloitte; and Evan Heiser (MAcc ’13), senior manager International Tax at Deloitte.

The team had four weeks to put into practice what they’ve learned in the classroom before presenting their findings and recommendations virtually to a group of Deloitte professionals.

The competition called for the team to serve as consultants for two friends who wanted to open a bubble tea business together. The team’s task was to decide whether the friends should buy or lease a property and how they should form the business.

The team presented their recommendations — that they purchase the property and form a C corporation that is taxed as an S corporation — to a panel of Deloitte professionals who were serving as the client.

As one of 20 universities invited to the national competition at Deloitte University in Westlake, Texas, in January, the team plans on learning as much as they can about the ever-changing tax law and its complexities.

“It means a lot to all of us to represent The Ohio State University and qualify for nationals,” said Ibrahim. “I am very excited to go on to nationals and showcase the hard work that all of us have put into this competition.”