Deloitte Tax Championship 2014 winners announced

Published: 29 October 2014

Deloitte is pleased to announce the winners of the national competition of the Deloitte Tax Championship 2014 ("'the Tax Championship" or "the competition"), which was held in Shanghai on October 25, 2014. The top honor of the competition was awarded to Peking University with Shanghai University of Finance & Economics and Sun Yat-sen University taking the second and the third places. Winners of the essay competition for post-graduate students of this year's Tax Championship were Xiaohong Yang (Sun Yat-sen University), Wenfei Yang (Sun Yat-sen University) and Yichun Li (National Taipei University of Business) (not in order of ranking).

During the final competition, the 13 finalist teams from 64 participating teams in the preliminary round went through the challenge of a simulated business case by presenting in front of a panel of judges, including tax officials, senior business executives and Deloitte tax partners/directors. Presentations were also made by students from the 8 merit papers on various major tax topics, such as transfer pricing, value-added tax and international tax agreement and information exchange, for determination of the final winners of the essay competition.

"In the light of constant revisions of tax regulations and policies in different jurisdictions, businesses in Greater China are operating in a highly sophisticated tax environment. The rising importance of tax factors in business decision is reflected by the growing demand of tax professionals. As a member of the judging panel, I am very inspired by the critical thinking and analytical skills of the winners who will be our future to support business in tax planning and strategy and participates in the shaping of tax regime in the region," said Vivian Jiang, Country Tax Leader, Deloitte China.

Deloitte invited Zhao Shennian, Vice President of The China Certified Tax Agents Association (CCTAA), to be the keynote speaker of the award ceremony. He spoke highly about the diligence and excellent performance of the participants, their teachers and leaders from academic institutions. He also stressed the importance of quality talent for social development in China. Lastly, he encouraged students to develop the quality of "integrity, righteous, dedication and innovation", and as the outstanding practitioners who will continue to pass along the core value of the tax profession.

Maria Liang, Chairlady of the Deloitte Tax Championship said, "Over the last decade, Deloitte Tax Championship has been an effective platform for students to apply textbook knowledge outside their classrooms. Through the competition, we have also encouraged thousands of students not only to enrich their tax knowledge, but to develop their communication skills and problem solving abilities, which are pivotal to their future career development whether in tax or other professional fields."

Professor Jiang Yunyun from Peking University said, "We hope to express our heartfelt gratitude to Deloitte for hosting the tax championship competition for the past eleven years. The competition not only provides immense support to tax education, but also creates a tax knowledge platform for students. The Deloitte Tax Championship is also designed in a way to test the analytical skills and team cooperation of students, while helping students to combine finance and tax knowledge to resolve problems in the simulated business cases. Students should feel inspired by the international and forward looking nature of the questions in the competition."

Of the 20 of entries received from post-graduate students in the essay competition, 8 were shortlisted for the final competition. In the group presentation competition, 13 finalist teams were chosen from the regional competitions, including (listed in alphabetical order):

• Guangdong University of Foreign Studies
• Huazhong University of Science and Technology
• Jiangxi University of Finance & Economics
• Nanjing University of Finance & Economics
• National Chengchi University
• Peking University
• Shanghai University of Finance & Economics
• Soochow University (located in Taipei)
• Southwestern University of Finance & Economics
• Sun Yat-sen University
• The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
• University of Macau
• Zhongnan University of Economics & Law

The Deloitte Tax Championship is a competition organized by Shanghai Deloitte Tax Ltd. and Deloitte Tax Research Foundation for university students in Greater China. It comprises two parts: a case study competition and an essay competition. The first case study competition was held in 2004 while the essay competition was introduced in 2006. The number of participants has increased every year since its inception. In past years, the competition has attracted more than 2000 students from many top universities.