12th Annual Accounting Bowl Friday At MCC

McHenry County College is partnering with several area high schools to host the 12th annual Accounting Bowl at the college’s Crystal Lake campus on Friday, April 25.

More than 150 high school students will flex their mental muscle to vie for individual and team trophies as they test their numerical competence and problem solving skills. Their task is to complete a 100-question test in one-hour that includes true-false and multiple choice.

“The purpose of the Accounting Bowl is to open students’ eyes to what accounting is all about,” said Don Curfman, MCC accounting instructor and Accounting Bowl coordinator. “It’s also to reward, honor and encourage outstanding high school accounting students in McHenry County.”

The contest also provides an opportunity for students who are not the most athletic in school to participate in something where they can win trophies, Curfman said.

Curfman compiled the test questions based on topics ideas provided by the high school accounting teachers. All of the test questions include topics that students have been exposed to in their classes. The tests are graded by accounting instructor Ann Esarco, CPA and other accounting instructors.

The Accounting Bowl is one example of the many high school partnerships that MCC offers throughout the year to promote and raise awareness of MCC’s academic programs. Other events include the IDEA drafting competition, the Marketing Challenge and Automotive Open House. MCC also offers works with local high schools offering several other academic programs, including Articulated Credit, where 150 students earned college credit from 2011-2013 and Dual Credit, where more than 1,300 students earned college credit while in high school during the 2012-2013 academic year.

In addition to learning about the accounting field, students will participate in a scavenger hunt where they learn teaches students where different offices are at the college and a Jeopardy game.

Guest speaker Ryan Farrell, CPA and lawyer will talk about what education he had to complete to become a certified public accountant. He also earned his juris doctor degree from Loyola University and is a member of the law firm Zukowski, Rogers, Flood and McArdle in Crystal Lake.

Curfman said a unique aspect of this year’s event is having 20 MCC accounting students assisting. Of those students, about 10 participated in the Accounting Bowl when they were in high school.

“What’s exciting about the event is the competition. It’s has been amazing,” Curfman said, referring to only last year’s event where the first and second place teams were separated by only one point. Those teams were Crystal Lake South and Alden-Hebron, respectively.

The high schools that will participate in this year’s event include: Alden-Hebron, Crystal Lake Central, Crystal Lake South, Harvard, Huntley, Johnsburg, Marengo, Marian Central, McHenry West and Woodstock North.

In addition to the opportunity to win trophies, one student in Accounting 1 and one in Accounting 2 will receive an MCC scholarship for $100 each.