Top Honour of Deloitte Tax Championship Competition 2013 goes to Shanghai University of Finance & Economics

Published: 25 October 2013

Top honour of the Deloitte Tax Championship 2013 ("the Tax Championship" or the "competition") was awarded to Shanghai University of Finance & Economics, with Zhongnan University of Economics & Law and Sun Yat-sen University taking the second and third place. The final competition in Beijing on 19 October also determined the winners for the essay competition. Four post-graduate students – Ms. Zhou Qun (Sun Yat-sen University), Mr. Wang Wei (Central University of Finance & Economics) and Ms. Xing Xi Jie and Mr. Xie Peng Chun (joint essay from Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences) were the top winners.  

During the final competition, 13 finalist teams of students went through the challenge of a simulated business case by presenting in front of a panel of judges, including tax official and senior business executive. Presentations were also made by students from the eight merit papers for determining the final winners. In its 10th anniversary, the competition has garnered the participation of around 300 students from 66 first-class universities in the region.

"Nowadays, Greater China companies are operating in a more sophisticated tax environment – the result of constant revisions of tax rules in different jurisdictions and heightened economic integration in the region. With more and more cross-border activities, this level of complexity will only continue to increase and this will imply a stronger demand for tax professionals to provide more comprehensive tax solutions," said Ms. Vivian Jiang, Country Tax Leader, Deloitte China.

"We feel privileged that over the years, our Tax Championship has become the cradle to nurture tax professionals and to promote the interest of tax studies at tertiary education. Moving into our next 10 years, we look forward to having more interaction and collaboration with the tax authority, people in the industry and the academics to promote the development of more tax talent to meet the increasing needs in Greater China," she added.  

Ms. Maria Liang, Chairlady of the Deloitte Tax Championship said, "We appreciate the valuable input from teachers and students for improving the set-up of our competition. Our underlying principle is to design our program in a way that tests the analytical, presentation and communication skills of students. Our competition also inspires students to think out of the box and apply their class-room knowledge to provide innovative business solutions. We also hope to make our competition a platform for cultural and academic exchange among top universities in the region."

Teacher Fang Hui of Shanghai University of Finance & Economics said, "The Deloitte Tax Championship offers some useful guidance on how relevant our tax education program is in terms of preparing students to face the future challenge of the business world. It also provides us with some judicious insights on how to further improve our teaching approach and content of our curriculum."

At the final competition, the 13 finalist teams included (listed in alphabetical order):

• Guangdong University of Foreign Studies
• Harbin Institute of Technology
• Huazhong University of Science & Technology
• Jiangxi University of Finance & Economics
• Macau University of Science & Technology
• National Chengchi University
• National Taiwan University
• Peking University
• Shanghai University of Finance & Economics
• Southwestern University of Finance & Economics
• Sun Yat-sen University
• The Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Zhongnan University of Economics & Law

Launched in 2004, the Deloitte Tax Championship is a pivotal initiative of Shanghai Deloitte Tax Ltd. and the Deloitte Tax Research Foundation, which promotes education, research and innovation in the field of taxation by supporting an array of national and local programs. The competition aims at facilitating the development of the tax education, nurturing future talent for the profession, and promoting the interest in tax studies. Over the past 10 years, more than 2,300 university students from 73 schools across the straits have participated in the case study and essay competition.