Friday, 11 April 2008  
 
Monash University student Jarrod Bayliss-McCulloch has been announced as the overall winner of the first round of the inaugural Chartered Accountants Student Challenge. From numerous submissions, Jarrod was the candidate who most successfully identified the key business risks for Oxfam Australia. 
 
The second challenge will commence this Monday, 14 April 2008 and will be for Médecins Sans Frontières Australia, the Australian section of the world’s leading independent medical-humanitarian aid organisation.  
 
An industry-first, the Student Challenge is the latest initiative from The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia which utilises Facebook and website www.figureditoutyet.com.au to engage with students in an online environment. In a series of three challenges, the competition allows students to develop real-life business challenges for three global not-for-profit organisations, introducing them to practical Chartered Accounting at a critical time in their career decision process. 
 
For the first challenge, students nationwide were asked to identify Oxfam Australia’s six key business risks and ways to mitigate them. Each team had just two weeks to prepare and submit their solutions with responses and were then judged on four main criteria – technical knowledge, innovation, presentation and participation. 
 
As the overall winner for the first challenge, Victoria’s Monash University undergraduate Jarrod Bayliss-McCulloch, of team Total Risk Solutions, now has the opportunity to present his winning solution to Oxfam Australia, before travelling to one of the locations where Oxfam Australia operates for a two week trip of a lifetime. 
 
‘We were very impressed with the quality of entries and the depth of analysis the students had taken. Some of the ideas for mitigation had not been previously considered by Oxfam and I look forward to meeting Jarrod when he presents to our management to discuss his ideas,’ said Craig Barry, Director of Finance and Information Systems at Oxfam Australia. 
 
Mr Bayliss-McCulloch said, ‘I saw the challenge as a fantastic opportunity to combine my personal interest in not-for-profit organisations with the opportunity to put some professional skills into practice.’ 
 
Awards were also given to several other students in the following categories:

• Best innovation: SRV Solutions. Team members Raymond Leung, Vinay Seethamraju, Swati Sethi (University of Technology, Sydney) each won a Macbook Air
• Best in presentation: MDJT. Team members Danny Mau, Robuen Diaz, Chhiv Heak Kaelyn Thay (University of Technology, Sydney) each won an Apple iPodTouch
• Best in participation: CH Social Good. Matt Christensen (Macquarie University), Tommy Ho (University of NSW) each won an Apple iPodTouch.