The School’s third and latest out-of-classroom academic competition designed to develop analytical thinking and communication skills in our accounting majors was held Wednesday, June 6, 2007, with the first annual Goglin Presentations, under the direction of John McEnroe, Deloitte Alumni Distinguished Professor.

With generous sponsorship from the new Edward & Mary Goglin Fund in the School, a topic was assigned—this year a very timely “Earnings Management: What is it, and how can it be combated.” Students submitted original essays, and selected essays were competitively presented before a faculty panel, including Prof. McEnroe and Ernst & Young Alumni Distinguished Professor Belverd Needles. Discussion ensued, questions were posed and answers provided; as with our Melvoin Symposium, students were judged on their writing, speaking, and analytic abilities—and in real time, across the table from distinguished scholars.

This year’s selected competitors were senior Amanda Simon and joint authors Bradley Nelson, Alex Chudnovsky and Aun Rizvi, all juniors in the Strobel Honors Program. The students shared in the $2500 in Goglin Presentation prizes.

The Edward & Mary Goglin Fund is the gift of Mary Goglin, a long-time admirer of DePaul and its accounting programs who has enjoyed taking an active role in enhancing a DePaul accounting education. The Goglin Fund encourages and provides support for innovative educational activities that stimulate student analytical thinking and writing while strengthening student-faculty interaction, all goals of DePaul’s Vision twenty12.

The Goglin Presentations joins the School’s other extra-curricular academic programs, the annual Fred Lang Student Case Competition, sponsored by the School’s chaired professors, and the annual Melvoin Student Ethics Essay Contest and Symposium, sponsored by the Charles & Selma Melvoin Fund. Ledger & Quill, the School’s friend and alumni association, is proud to co-sponsor these innovative activities. This year, over 30 DePaul accounting students participated in the activities, and $6000 in Lang, Melvoin and Goglin prizes were awarded, to encourage and reward their outstanding efforts.