UP accounting team tops global challenge

PROF. Arthur Barrido Jr. (leftmost) poses with Scion team members Jerard Megg Cordero, Marra Francillan Cordero, Ordis Osonio and Dominique Dabad outside the University of the Philippines Visayas campus in Iloilo City. Contributed photo

ILOILO CITY, Philippines—They almost did not make the trip, but they still managed to bring home international fame.

Faced with passport and visa processing problems, four accounting students of the University of the Philippines-Visayas (UPV) College of Management in Iloilo left the country in the afternoon of July 22, just a few hours after they secured their documents.

They reached their hotel in China around 2 a.m. the next day. With little sleep, they competed in the 2011 Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (Cima) Global Business Challenge (GBC) held in Chengdu on July 23-24.

After two rounds, Jerard Megg Cordero, Marra Francillan Cordero, Dominique Dabad and Ordisi Osonio of the UPV’s Team Scions won, besting 16 other countries. Singapore was second and Australia, third.

Team Scions

On its third year, the GBC is an international competition among young business leaders on their skills in managing companies and responding to challenges. It is organized by the Cima, the world’s leading and largest professional body of management accountants, with 183,000 members and students in 168 countries.

Team Scions, which represented the Philippines, bested nearly 9,000 international applicants to emerge as global champions. It won over teams from host China, Malaysia, Bangladesh, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Russia, Vietnam, Indonesia, South Africa and United Arab Emirates.

“This is the fruit of hard work. We prepared for six months for the national and global finals,” said Prof. Arthur Barrido Jr., the team’s coach who was left behind due to the delay in the processing of travel documents.

Team members said they were unfazed despite coming in late and competing even if they didn’t have their coach with them and had only a few hours sleep.

“We just thought that the challenges were signs that we will eventually win the competition,” Osonio said.

The Cima said the Scions “provided innovative and feasible solutions that balanced attention to detail with the appreciation of broad strategic issues.”

Its presentation on a hypothetical business case was assessed by a panel of experts from international business organizations, including Barclays, Shell, L’Occitane en Provence, Tangs Department Store, TRW and Cima.

Andrew Harding, Cima managing director and head of the panel of judges, lauded the Filipino team.

“It has been exceptionally difficult to judge at times as the level of business skill in evidence has been striking. Team Scions really stood out for us because of their outstanding and solid performance,” Harding said in a statement.

The competition underwent three stages starting with an accounting case study based on a given scenario and submitting a 2,000-word report.

The second stage, the national finals, involved the synopsis and presentation of the report.

Philippine champs

The Scions won as Philippine champion among six teams during the competition on June 10 in Manila. De La Salle University came in second, followed by Far Eastern University.

Dabad said preparations for the China contest were done during their spare time after classes in Iloilo and later in their on-the-job training in Manila.

Now, the team members must catch up on classes and requirements that they missed while they were away. But they said it was worth it.

“It gave us a valuable experience especially in integrating the various subjects in our course,” said Cordero, the team leader.

He said their feat had shown that the country’s accounting students are among the world’s best.

The experience has broadened the outlook of team members and firmed up their plans after they graduate. But none preferred to work abroad.

“I prefer to work here in our country. This is my home and I want to use my skills in helping our people,” said Marra Francillan Cordero, the lone female team member.