Alesha Allen Wins Statewide Internal Audit Case Competition

2016 Feb 3

Alesha Allen of Atlanta, a student in the Master of Professional Accountancy program at Georgia State University's J. Mack Robinson College of Business, has won the 2015 Internal Audit Case Competition sponsored by the Atlanta chapter of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA).

Alesha Allen, Christy Beers and Brittany Long were the winning team members, taking home top prize among 18 teams that participated representing seven colleges and universities.

The two-phase competition, which is open to students attending Georgia colleges and universities, began October 2, when registered teams received the case from IIA-Atlanta. The case challenged teams to examine cybersecurity risks faced by a publicly held company and to report their findings and recommendations for risk mitigation to the firm's board of directors.

Teams submitted written responses, and from that number, 10 teams were chosen as finalists and presented their recommendations before a panel of judges on November 13 at Kennesaw State University.

"Alesha, Christy and Brittany fully engaged judges in a productive discussion. They documented known cyber issues and imperatives by providing references to numerous sources and were recognized for their incredible breadth of knowledge," said the team's faculty advisor, Larry Ashmore of the School of Accountancy.

Allen, Beers and Long each received a check for $1,000 from IIA-Atlanta. Scott Stevenson, chief audit officer of Emory University, was the team's business mentor.

This is the fifth year that IIA-Atlanta has held the case competition. Georgia State hosted the competition the first three years. Robinson is the only school whose team has won twice, first doing so in 2012.

The largest business school in the South and part of a major research institution, Georgia State University's J. Mack Robinson College of Business has 200 faculty, 8,000 students and 75,000 alumni. With programs on five continents and students from 88 countries, the college is world-class and worldwide. Its part-time MBA is ranked among the best by the Bloomberg Businessweek and U.S. News & World Report, and its Executive MBA is on the Financial Times list of the world's premier programs. Located in Atlanta, the Robinson College and Georgia State have produced more of Georgia's top executives with graduate degrees than any other school in the Southeast.