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Ashley Hancock: Accounting Major

Image is of Ashley Hancock

Golf has always been an important part of Ashley Hancock’s life since being a member of the North High School golf team. The teamwork and camaraderie of high school sports followed her to college and straight into USI’s College of Business. The Accounting Circle golf outings gave her the opportunity to use her competitive high school sport to network with business professionals. Through her newfound contacts and an excellent academic record, she earned internship opportunities with top local and regional accounting firms.

Being part of a team sums up Hancock's four years at USI. She attributes her success as an accounting student to study groups. "A good study group is everything. You need a good leader; and team members who compliment one another. A good team knows how to manage one anothers' weaknesses and strengths," said Hancock. "We learned to listen to one another and to contribute."

Hancock parlayed her team-building skills in study groups into being a member of the college’s accounting case study teams. "It was a stressful but rewarding experience. I surpassed my own expectations and ended up surprising myself," smiles Hancock. Participating in state and national competitions against much larger colleges, forced her out of her comfort zone of being the behind-the-scenes person who excelled in organizing information. Hancock notes that having good communication skills is essential in the business world. "In almost every business class I have taken, students were required to give presentations. As a result, USI students have enjoyed success in case study competitions, which has earned USI an excellent reputation for preparing students for the business world."

Hancock's interdisciplinary business case study team traveled to Royal Roads University in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada to compete on an international level. "We were given a case study, a room, paper, a computer to type on, and three hours to prepare a 20-minute PowerPoint presentation. There was no Internet access, reference material or previous notes to depend on—only our brains. It was this 'thinking-on-your-feet' experience that gave us an advantage over the other teams when we won the IMA national case study competition in 2009."

Story by Barbara Goodwin
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