The Charles & Selma Melvoin Student Essay Contest and Student Ethics Symposium form an ethics-themed essay and presentation contest open to junior and senior accounting students at DePaul. The contest focuses on ethics in business and accounting. Melvoin Prizes--up to $3000 in total--will be awarded to top finishers in this sixth annual competition.

The purpose of the contest and symposium is to stimulate and encourage excellence in two professional concerns of accounting students: an appreciation of the centrality of ethics to accounting practice, and the necessity for superior communication skills.

Contest goals include

Increasing awareness the role of ethics in accounting
Encourage research and out-of-classroom thinking about ethics
Recognition of the need for strong communication skills
Emphasize the professional nature of accounting practice
Rewarding the highest achieving accounting students
Demonstrating the School's and the university's commitment to ethics in an ethics-based profession

Participants are invited to write essays --as individuals or joint authors-- dealing with ethical issues arising in the professional practice of accounting, or business generally. Specific topics are left to the creativity of the authors. Essays written as course assignments are welcomed. Submissions are reviewed by a screening committee, and the top essays will be selected for participation in the Spring quarter 2008 Melvoin Student Ethics Symposium, at which essays are presented and defended. A panel of judges composed of faculty, friends and alumni determines the top presentation, and allocates awards.

Eligibility: All junior and senior Accounting majors in good academic standing are eligible to participate. Students may participate as individuals, or as co-authors. A goal of the contest is to attract as wide student participation as possible. Essays submitted as class requirements are welcomed.

Awards: Number and amount of Melvoin Prizes will be determined solely by the contest judges. Over $14,000 has been awarded to date in the Student Ethics Symposium portion of the program. Awards may be presented directly to students, or credited to students' financial accounts.

Format: Manuscripts must be at least five typed, double spaced pages, including citations and references, if used. No manuscript or citation format is preferred or required, and any commonly-used format or style is acceptable. Submissions may be electronic or hard copy as the participant prefers. An attached cover sheet with the author's name, address, email, phone number(s) and university ID number is required; authors' names are not to appear within the text or any header used throughout the text.

Criteria: Substance: The essay must address any dimension of ethics in accounting and business. Specific topics are left to the creativity of the authors. The topic should be timely and relevant, of a significant nature for college-level work, supported by research, and demonstrate familiarity with authoritative literature (if appropriate to the topic), the issue(s) raised, a good grasp of concepts involved, and mastery where professional and technical issues are involved. Participants should avoid narratives of personal experiences, or technical summaries and analyses of well-known cases.

Form: The essay must be articulate, clear and precise, observing the basic rules of composition (spelling, punctuation, vocabulary and grammar), and well organized, with a clear conclusion. Any standard research citation format (footnoting and bibliography) is acceptable.

Presentation criteria: The presenters should demonstrate clarity, poise, and speaking ability, as well as persuasiveness and conviction. Presenters may be questioned by the panel of judges, and asked to "defend" their ideas and conclusions. (Use of presentation technology is optional.)

Schedule: Essay submission deadline: Wednesday, January 9, 2008.
Selection of symposium participants: Winter 2008
Student Ethics Symposium: TBA, Spring quarter, 2008, DePaul Center

Submit entries to

Dr. Tim Lockyer
School of Accountancy and MIS,
6012 DePaul Center (or mailbox),
or by email to tlockyer@depaul.edu

Past Symposium Awardees:

2003: Benetta McKenzie, Amy Phillips, Stanislav & Marina Sirot
2004: Lukasz Cyboran, Ryan Fanning, Amanda Stepien
2005: Katherine Dahlberg, Lu Ling Li, Jennifer Smith and Porschia Thomas-Quinn
2006: Anna Marszalek, Tanya Tisljar, Kathryn Wayman
2007: Natalie Garcia, Jennifer Paruch, Patrick Phillips

The Charles and Selma Melvoin Fund

The Charles & Selma Melvoin Fund was established in the School of Accountancy and Management Information Systems in 1988, by a gift from the Melvoin Family to DePaul University. The late Charles Melvoin, a founding partner of the accounting firm Altschuler, Melvoin & Glasser, was a DePaul graduate and former accounting faculty member. Hugo Melvoin and Marilyn Melvoin-Richman have continued the Melvoin Family heritage of support of DePaul University and its accounting students and programs by generously maintaining the Melvoin Fund, providing the Melvoin Scholarships, and sponsoring the Melvoin Student Essay Contest and Student Ethics Symposium. The Melvoins were honored in 2003 with "Lifetime Associate" status by Ledger & Quill, the alumni society of the School of Accountancy and MIS.

Ledger & Quill is pleased to serve as a co-sponsor of the 2007-08 Melvoin Student Ethics Symposium.