SDSU Team Wins ERPsim North America Competition, Finishes 4th in International Competition
On June 10, 2021, four students from the Charles W. Lamden School of Accountancy at the Fowler College of Business at San Diego State University finished 4th at the 13th annual ERPsim International Competition. There were a total of 15 universities from 12 different countries competing at this year’s virtual event, including China’s Nanjing Audit University who took home first place.
This year marked the first time a team from SDSU has entered the competition. They became eligible for the international competition after their 1st place finish at the ERPsim North America Competition on June 2.
Hung C. (Leon) Chan, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
The SDSU team, consisting of accounting seniors Hong He, Tavish Phommavongsay, Damon Suda and BMACC student Alan Lieu prepared for the competition by playing an interactive “game” in accounting professor Leon Chan’s ACCTG 432 (Cost Accounting) class during the spring semester of 2021.
The game, developed by the ERPsim Lab at HEC in Montreal, Canada, consisted of a digitally simulated muesli factory where students then applied enterprise resource planning (ERP) software to the factory operations (such as inventory, purchasing, etc.) to deliver the most cost-effective results. Chan wanted the students to engage in this exercise as a fun, interactive way to help them develop their ERP software skills and teach them to make cost-effective choices in a virtual reality setting where they could see the outcomes of their decisions.
Chan told the class about the ERPsim North American competition, which was the same virtual simulation they engaged in during class. “We were doing well in the class and Hong suggested that we enter the competition,” said Phommavongsay, who was the team captain. “We enjoyed doing this and we had so much fun, we decided to go ahead.”
The North American competition was held in an online environment on June 2, which was a week after three members of the team graduated. This meant some re-arranging of schedules, but all four team members were able to attend as they emerged the winner of the online competition.
The team next prepared for the international competition during the following week by practicing with Chan, other SDSU faculty and their former classmates. While SDSU did not leave the final competition with a victory, Chan said he “was thankful that we had such a great team and a strong showing for our first time in the competition. They gained some valuable ERP and teamwork experience and now can say that they finished among the top five teams in the world in the ERPsim International Competition.”
“After I complete my master’s degree at Cornell, I will be looking for an auditing position in the U.S. and this competition improves my marketability.” - Hong He, '21
"We were doing well in the class and Hong suggested that we enter the competition. We enjoyed doing this and we had so much fun, we decided to go ahead.” - Tavish Phommavongsay '21
“The competition helped me to get a better understanding of the full business process.” - Damon Suda, '21
“Eventually I want to work in the assurance industry and the ERPsim game incorporated everything we learned during our college career to give us solid analytical skills.” - Alan Lieu, '21
