CPA Game Turns Students into Detectives

College students play detectives for the second year as the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants repeats its Catch Me If You Can campaign.

Students solve crimes online for cash

The online and on-campus effort encourages business majors to consider careers in forensic accounting. Students register to solve three crimes online; top scorers win cash (up to $2,000) and Sony MP3 players.

Online ads, e-mail and collateral distributed by professors drive students to the Web site to register and play. Contestants are judged on correct answers and time management. Each of the three cases has a winner and two runners-up; there's also one overall winner for the complete game. Wunderman, New York City, handles.

Catch Me if You Can won a 2004 PRO Award for Best Direct Marketing (December 2004 PROMO). Last year 10,000-plus students registered, and 6,000 opted for more info—impressive, since 81% had never expressed interest in accounting before.

The contest is part of the New York City-based association's four-year-old "Start Here. Go Places" student recruitment campaign.

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