The Epsilon Eta Chapter from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill hosted the 1999 Graduate Case Seminar in January. Following tradition, this year's seminar again brought together graduate student members of Beta Alpha Psi chapters from all over the country. Sixty-one chapters each sent one member to Chapel Hill to take part in seminars on taxation, financial accounting, auditing and ethics. Chapters from all regions of the country joined together for a weekend of fun and professional development on the UNC campus.
The seminar opened with an indoor pig pickin' on the UNC campus. (January doesn't lend itself to an outdoor pig pickin' — even in warm North Carolina). Following dinner, the group proceeded to the Morehead Planetarium (the first planetarium ever to be built on a college campus) to view one of its programs on the "night sky." Following the formal entertainment for the evening, many in the group proceeded to Franklin Street to acquaint themselves with many of the town's college hang-outs.
Saturday opened with the viewing of an ethics video produced by Coopers & Lybrand,* followed by a lively discussion led by Jeff Barber, managing Partner of the PricewaterhouseCoopers office. Students then broke into groups to discuss the case studies they received prior to arriving at the conference. The tax case study sessions were led by Kim Ellis, partner from Deloitte & Touche. The audit sessions were led by Professors Brian Ballou and Rick Tabor (Auburn University), who authored the audit cases.** Saturday's discussion and study sessions concluded with a dinner banquet. Students did not leave Chapel Hill without one last late-night stop on Franklin Street!
The Graduate Case Seminar is an annual event that brings together strangers and sees a departure of newly made friends. Interactions with students from all over the country make this seminar especially exciting and valuable.
*Video was produced by Coopers & Lybrand legacy, prior to merger with PriceWaterhouse.
** Sponsorship of these audit cases was by KPMG.
