IMA Announces Middle East Student Case Competition Winners

On Saturday, April 28, 2018, IMA^® (Institute of Management Accountants) held its annual Middle East Student Case Competition in Dubai, UAE. Four student teams from the Prince Sultan University (PSU) in Riyadh, KSA, the American University of Science and Technology (AUST) in Lebanon and the German Jordanian University competed in the final round.

     (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/690608/TeamAUST_IMA.jpg )

     (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/690610/TeamGJU_IMA.jpg )

The Student Case Competition is sponsored annually by IMA to provide an opportunity for students to interpret, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and communicate a solution to a management accounting problem. After presenting their analysis, the students have to answer questions from the panel of judges to defend their management accounting case analysis. Ultimately, the team from American University of Science and Technology received the first prize while the team from German Jordanian University won second prize.

This year's case is about a company that produces a line of organic-certified clothing for infants and children with extreme sensitivity to the chemicals and dyes used in commercial children's clothing. The company was approached by a large retail chain store who wanted to carry the children's clothing line in its stores. The potential business with the retail chain would nearly double the company's sales volume. The student teams were asked to present their analysis on whether the project would be a strategic fit for the company from both financial and nonfinancial perspectives.

"IMA prepares finance and accounting students for the future of the accounting profession that requires an aggressive reorientation toward management accounting and internal decision support. Accounting students need to know they are not just 'number crunchers." In this case, we wanted them to see beyond the financial impact of business decisions to incorporate and reflect on the organization's value proposition, image and competitive advantage," said Hanadi Khalife, director, MEA and India operations at IMA.

Khalife was part of the panel of judges for this year's competition which include Abdur Rahim Ghulam Nabi, CMA, CFM, APM, senior advisor, finance, and commercial division at Dubai Airport Freezone and Hadi Mezawi, CMA, group finance manager at KAF Group.

"I'm always impressed by the caliber of the students who join this competition. They understand forward-looking information that influences operations, resources, processes, market relationships and use that information to support strategic business decision-making," stated Rishi Malhotra, academic and community relations manager at IMA. The first place winner won a cash prize of US$3,000 while the second place winner received US$2,000.

IMA is the only global management accounting organization to consistently be a forerunner in delivering relevant research on the evolution of the financial professional to business partner. These efforts promote reform to align management accounting curriculum with on-the-job demands. To achieve this, IMA developed the CMA® (Certified Management Accountant) program for critical internal financial management responsibilities, including planning, budgeting, business reporting, decision analysis, and risk management.

About IMA^® (Institute of Management Accountants)
IMA^®, named 2017 Professional Body of the Year by The Accountant/International Accounting Bulletin, is one of the largest and most respected associations focused exclusively on advancing the management accounting profession. Globally, IMA supports the profession through research, the CMA^® (Certified Management Accountant) program, continuing education, networking and advocacy of the highest ethical business practices. IMA has a global network of more than 100,000 members in 140 countries and 300 professional and student chapters Headquartered in Montvale, N.J., USA, IMA provides localized services through its four global regions: The Americas, Asia/Pacific, Europe, and Middle East/India. For more information about IMA, please visit http://www.imanet.org.