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McCombs MBA Real Estate Team Wins Texas
Shoot-Out
MBA students from McCombs won the $10,000 first-place prize
in the second annual Texas Shoot-Out real estate competition
April 20. Sponsored by the National
Association of Industrial and Office Properties of North Texas,
the case involved a dilapidated mall with environmental issues
in Chicago. Options were: sell, redevelop or scrape. The
winning McCombs team consisted of first-year MBA students Amy
Sta. Maria, Nurith Galonsky, Luis Castellanos,
Richard Roberts, Ammanuel Metta and David
Childress. The Southern Methodist University team took
second place, earning $7,500.
Texas Christian University’s team won the $5,000 prize. Also
competing were teams from Rice University and the University of
North Texas.
First McCombs Executive Summit Hosted by
Undergraduate Business Council a Success
 The McCombs Executive Summit (MES)
sponsored by the Undergraduate Business Council launched its
first annual event April 21. Designed as a program that would
supplement business education and provide opportunities
for close interaction with senior corporate executives, this
year’s theme was globalization. Executives in attendance
represented Tata Sons, Continental Airlines, Dell, Hilton
Hotels, De Beers, P&G, Monsanto, Frito-Lay/PepsiCo, Wal-Mart and Hewlett-Packard.
“The close
interaction between executives and students provided a unique
atmosphere that fostered both education and professional
opportunity,” said Matthew Barry, finance and BHP
senior, one of the
organizers. The keynote was delivered by David P. Good, chief
representative of Tata Sons, with an introduction by Vijay
Mahajan, McCombs marketing professor.
Hermes Spring Fling a Rousing Success
In
the News:
KPMG Details Widespread Breakdown in Management of
City of San Diego
San Diego Union-Tribune, April 20, 2007
A new assessment of San Diego’s internal checks against
fraud and error-filled financial statements shows management
breakdowns have been more widespread than previously stated by city
officials and outside consultants. The report, from accounting
firm KPMG, was recently made public after the firm finished a three-year audit of the
city’s 2003 books. Michael Granof, McCombs accounting
professor,
reviewed it and said, “Frankly, I’ve never seen a list this long.”
Granof said the city has time to correct the problems because
it’s still three years behind on releasing its annual audits.
“They haven’t had a chance to correct it,” Granof said. “Let’s
see what 2006 looks like.”
Get the full story.
In
the News:
Texas Leaves Taxpayers in Lurch Over $50 Billion
in Benefits
Bloomberg, April 19, 2007
Texas owes state workers $50 billion in future retirement
benefits and refuses to acknowledge the obligation. Texas
Comptroller Susan Combs says she won’t follow a new national
accounting standard that requires states and cities to disclose
the estimated costs of benefits promised to retired workers,
such as health care and life insurance. The government would
need to set aside $4 billion a year over the next decade to keep
from falling short on what it owes, according to a report by the
state’s Legislative Budget Board. Disclosing its future costs
may force Texas to raise taxes, increase borrowing, sell assets
or cut programs to come up with the money. Refusing to recognize
them may jeopardize the ratings on $22 billion of outstanding
bonds and prompt investors to demand higher yields when they
lend to the state. “If they don’t report it, they don’t have to
do anything about it,” Michael Granof said. “It’s much
easier to just push it off to the next generation.”
Get the full story.
In
the News:
Dallas Griffin: Longhorn Footballer and Future
McCombs MBA
Austin American-Statesman, April 22, 2007
Dallas Griffin, finance
and BHP senior, is the starting center for
the Longhorn football team. Instead of impressing co-eds on Sixth
Street with the number of tequila shots he can throw down, this
22-year-old is preparing for the nationally ranked McCombs
School of Business MBA program, which accepted him last month. He
and former Longhorns swimmer Sean Foley, MBA ’08, are the only two UT
athletes among the 510 students in the program.
Get
the full story.
McCombs School Job Postings:
See past issues of McCombs Weekly.
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