OU finance students excel in first appearance at Financial Modeling University Championship
A team of Price College of Business finance students qualified for the finals in the 2022 Financial Modeling University Championship, placing 14th overall.
The inaugural competition, organized by the Financial Modeling World Cup and the University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management, featured 16 teams in the final round in the spring. Fifty-six teams representing 13 countries and 37 universities competed in the first two rounds. The Price College team tied for 11th and 12th in the first two rounds.
“We didn’t go into the competition with any expectations, but we ended up doing pretty well,” said Jonah Barth, a senior finance major from Flower Mound, Texas. “Not only did we learn a ton about Microsoft Excel and financial modeling, but we were able to collaborate and find solutions to difficult problems. I’m very glad we signed up, and I would encourage any OU students to look into competing next year.”
In addition to Barth, Price College’s team included seniors Cooper Browning, a finance and MIS double major, and Danny Dempster, a finance and management double major. Both Browning and Dempster are from Plano, Texas. Their team’s name, “Hooper’s Homies,” honored Tom Hooper, the instructor of their financial modeling class.
“We crushed the pro forma due to our experience with pro forma in Tom Hooper’s Financial Modeling class,” Dempster said.
Though the Financial Modeling World Cup presents multiple competitions annually, this was the first Financial Modeling University Championship. The purpose of these competitions is to promote the educational aspect of Microsoft Excel, data analysis, business analysis and Excel modeling.
The competition included three rounds. In the first round, teams had to answer three questions. The second and third rounds (semifinals and finals) had two questions each.
Dempster said teamwork played a key role in the process because they had to bounce potential solutions off each other in a brainstorming-type environment.
Browning said their strength in using pro-forma models benefited them throughout the competition. However, they realized they needed to improve their abilities to work with dates in Excel and expand their knowledge of certain formulas.
Barth said the competition not only allowed them to practice skills learned in class, but also to learn new formulas and other skills to become more efficient in their work.
The students said the competition helped build skills they will need in future careers and, in some cases, helped solidify their career goals.
In October, Hooper’s Homies competed in the Microsoft Excel Collegiate Challenge, placing 15th out of 124 teams overall and fifth out of 44 North American teams.
