CHAMPAIGN – The second time proved a charm.

Last year, a team of University of Illinois accounting students reached the finals of PricewaterhouseCoopers' xTREME Accounting competition. This year, a UI team won the whole thing.

Now the winners are trying to figure out what to do with their $10,000 prize.

"I purchased a new car last summer, and I used a little to pay down some of that. The rest I put into savings," said Jared Marchiando, a UI junior who was part of both teams. "I know a couple of the girls (on the team) were talking about shopping sprees."

Joining Marchiando on the winning team were juniors Julie Buhnerkempe and Adam West and sophomores Kassandra Hasty and Allison LaBelle. Their team was one of five chosen to take part in the finals in New York City.

There they faced teams from Louisiana State University, Hampton University, LaSalle University and Villanova University.

The challenge: to address a case spelled out last fall.

"The case they were given was a good one," said John Hedeman, a UI College of Business assistant dean in charge of the honors program. "They were essentially advising an energy company on whether it should buy another energy company to increase market share or invest in an alternative energy source with cash it had on hand."

The UI team was one of two teams in the finals that argued for investing in the alternative energy source, Hedeman said. The UI team argued it was in the company's long-term interest to do so.

"Much of the argument was long-term interest vs. short-term profit," said Hedeman, who accompanied the team on the trip. "The thing that tipped it for us was the students' ability to handle strong questions from the judges. The judges admitted they asked the most withering set of questions to our team, and they were impressed with how the team stood its ground and provided additional support for their argument."

Last year, a five-person team also including Marchiando advanced to the finals. That team had to grapple with the question of a fictional country and whether to stay with U.S. reporting standards or switch to an international model.

In the finals, each team had 12 minutes to make a presentation, followed by questions from the judges.

The competition began on college campuses last fall, with 2,500 students at 43 universities participating. At the UI, 12 teams of five competed for the chance to advance to the national finals.

PricewaterhouseCoopers judges watched videos of the presentations, unaware of what schools the teams represented.

The UI team arrived in New York on a Thursday, took in the Broadway show "Wicked" and devoted most of Friday to the competition.

They concluded with a celebratory dinner at a Mexican restaurant a few blocks from Times Square.

Marchiando, who would like to work for PricewaterhouseCoopers after he graduates, is considering entering the competition again next year.

"I'm not completely sure yet," he said. "I might want to retire on top."