ACCA's CFO Challenge - Grand Final
ACCA's CFO Challenge 2008 cumulated into the Grand Final on 17 January 2008 at the SMU Convention Centre. The atmosphere was simply electrifying as the final three teams pull out all stops and battle it out for the coveted championship title.
In the project presentation segment, the three finalist teams, SAAT, W&Z and SAAT took their turns to impress both judges and the audience with their well-prepared and rehearsed business presentations. In a display of excellent communication skills and professionalism, all three teams delivered their message smoothly and clearly and ended exactly on the 15 minute mark with pin-point precision. However, the judging panel comprising of business leaders from the profession and industry, further stretched the performances of the teams by putting them through a rigorous round of question and answers. The barrage of questions by the judges was spontaneously met by the swift and decisive responses from the teams.
The remarkable effort by the teams later earned them a comment from the Lead Judge, Mr. Kon Yin Tong, Partner of Foo Kon Tan Grant Thornton:
...it shows that you are all very intelligent people and I have learnt a lot today. If you need a job in the future, you know where to look!"
The tension mounts as the game proceeded into the quiz segment (the presentations scores were yet not revealed at this point). With only 9 questions and 90 marks to play for, it is still anybody's game as the quiz commences. In this segment, the teams had to outwit each other by answering tough questions under tight time pressures. It proved to be a roller coaster ride for all the teams as leads were quickly gained and then lost by teams. The quiz segment ended with SAAT scoring the highest score of 25, W&Z trailing by 20 points and SOC at 15 points.
Up till the last minute, nobody in the audience knew who had actually won. In the dramatic final moments, game host Darrel David, asked for the presentation scores from the judging panel and then unveiled the final combined scores for the teams.
Team SAAT finally emerged as champions and received a cash prize of $5,000. Team W & Z took home the 1st Runner-Up position and received $3,000 while Team SOC took the 2nd Runner-Up position and a check of $1,000.
ACCA CFO Challenge 2008 was officially over with the announcement of the winning teams. ACCA Singapore would like to take this opportunity to thank all the supporters and contestants of ACCA's CFO Challenge again for making this game a great success.