Four Penn State accounting students are vying to win the accounting department $25,000 and garner valuable experience along the way.

Twenty-two teams, including one from Penn State, will compete in the pilot program of the KPMG National Audit Case Competition. The top five will move on to New York City to compete for first prize in April.

KPMG, sponsor of the competition, is internationally "one of the big four accounting firms," said Jeff Kranzel (junior-accounting and Spanish), one of the four Penn State team members in the competition. The team includes one student to represent each grade from sophomore through fifth-year.

Kranzel said he and his teammates, who have already received their first assignment, have been going over the information individually first, and then they will work together on the final projects.

As well as being one of the big four accounting firms, KPMG is "probably one of the biggest recruiters of Penn State students," said Mark Dirsmith, team adviser and professor of accounting.

If the Penn State team proceeds to the finals, they will make their presentation and answer questions from a panel, competing for various prizes. Even though the prizes for the top three teams are large sums of money -- $25,000 for first place, $15,000 for second and $10,000 for third -- according to the press release, every participant who makes it with their team to the finals will win $2,500 of their own.

Tim Bell, director of academic research in KPMG International's Global Services Centre, said Penn State was selected to participate in the inaugural round of the program based on its strong accounting and auditing curriculum.