This spring, UCCS competed in the Chartered Financial Analysts (CFA) Institute Research Challenge at Colorado PERA. Seven teams participated in this year’s competition, including Colorado State University, University of Colorado Boulder and University of Wyoming.

Representing UCCS as the sole team member was Ian Sachs, a business student with an emphasis in finance who will be graduating this spring. Sachs learned about the CFA Research Competition from Assistant Professor of Finance, Zhe (Cliff) Li.

The CFA Institute Research Challenge is a global competition that tests the equity research and valuation, investment report writing and presentation skills of university students. This annual educational initiative promotes best practices in equity research among the next generation of analysts through hands-on mentoring and intensive training in company analysis and presentation skills.

Normally, teams are required to have at least three members to participate. Unfortunately, as the project went on, Sachs found himself as the only remaining team member for UCCS. Though this did mean Sachs had to spend more time preparing his presentation, he was undeterred and grateful the CFA Society made it possible for him to continue.

Facing a challenge is not something Sachs shies away from.

In fact, he seeks it out: “I chose to pursue a degree in finance for the challenge of anticipating and reacting to ever-changing and evolving conditions within the market,” Sachs said. “I enjoy being able to tackle problems that are hard to quantify into a simple sentence worth of information. Additionally, I enjoy the challenge of explaining in simpler terms the potential and current impacts of market forces.”

For Sachs, the best part of the competition was the presentation: “While it was daunting to be sure, it gave me a challenge that was worth the time spent preparing for.”

In conjunction with that one-man-presentation, Sachs was also expected to answer questions from a panel of judges. “This part was difficult because I had to remember and pull data points from off the top of my head, while also focusing on each individual angle that could be used against my research,” he said.

While watching Sachs at the competition, Peter Keilman from CFA Society Colorado said that Sachs as a sole member in a team event “was inspiring.”

Overall, Sachs found the experience to be a great window into the financial operations of the corporate world. Because of this competition, he has gained a greater understanding as to how corporate decisions are made and gained direct experience on how to efficiently present those decisions to a group. “The CFA Research Competition is an amazing opportunity to grow in different areas of business, even ones you wouldn’t think are necessary for your major. I for one learned to effectively become a marketing, accounting, and business administration major just from the various analysis techniques I had to learn,” said Sachs.

Sachs would do it all over again and recognizes the support from faculty within the College of Business.

“Dr. Li was my faculty advisor and a fantastic resource during the competition,” he said. “He gave me access to crucial tips and software to use during the competition and was always available for any and all questions I had during the process.”

Li stated that “Ian was the first presenter in the competition and his performance was very impressive. He was super confident and answered the referees’ questions well. I am very proud of him.”

Wilcox Endowed Professor of Accounting Brian McAllister added, “I appreciate Ian’s efforts at the CFA case competition! The faculty are so proud of him, and he was a great representative for UCCS at the event.”

For interested students, Sachs whole-heartedly recommends participating in this competition.

He concludes with the following advice: “Make sure you are ready and able to dedicate time for this competition and be ready to deal with scrutiny. This competition isn’t one you can easily back out of, and by the end of your research, you’ll likely not want to. Half of the competition is the mental strain itself.”