Eleven of the 50 universities in greater China competing in the fifth Deloitte Tax Championship have made it through to the national finals. Among them are The University of Hong Kong and the Macau University of Science and Technology.
More than 270 undergraduate and postgraduate students from 24 Chinese cities entered the event this year. The 11 undergraduate teams who reach the finals, to be held on October 16 in Xiamen, will have to analyse a simulated business case and present their solutions to a judging panel comprising senior tax officials and Deloitte clients and tax partners.
In addition to the undergraduate case study competition, an essay competition is open to all postgraduates. This year, 21 postgraduates from 13 universities have submitted essays either commenting on China's tax system or discussing challenges and opportunities for enterprises in the new tax environment.
Eight merit papers will be shortlisted in the first stage, and candidates will make a presentation to the judges on the national competition finals day to compete for the top three spots.
Since the competition was launched in 2004, the number of participating teams has increased from 27 to this year's record high of 50. In addition to the case study competition, this year teams also faced four rounds of multiple-choice questions.
Yvonne Law, Deloitte tax partner in Hong Kong and partner in charge of the Tax Championship Southern China group competitions, said that the teams were severely tested by the case study, which concerned a Bermuda-domiciled company with a trading company in Hong Kong and manufacturing operations in the mainland.