August is the most exciting part of the FIN702 Strategic Management Accounting module year for students in the BCom Honours in Financial Management Sciences program! This is when they present their Practical Case Study projects to fellow students and interested staff from the Department of Financial Management. The Practical Case Study (PCS) project is a valuable experiential learning and assessment opportunity built on community interaction between students and smaller businesses or, sometimes, branches of larger firms.

For the PCS, students are allocated to one of ten groups and tasked with applying one of the strategic models or tools covered in the module to an actual business to analyse the company and then provide strategic advice and recommendations. These businesses are usually small-to-medium-sized organisations which may not necessarily be able to afford the fees of strategic consultants.

Students gain valuable practical experience applying the theoretical knowledge learned in class within the business environment. The groups are required to present their findings through a written business report and present their findings to the class, myself and other interested attendees. Therefore, the students also learn how to structure a business report and to do business presentations to others. The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) (United Kingdom) awarded me the CIMA Employability Excellence award for 2021 for how the project enhances the employability of the students of the module.

This year, 2023, the businesses selected and analysed by students included a plumbing business, a business making industrial fans and extractors, a pies bakery and wholesaler, a labour broking service, and an insurance provider, among others. An interesting trend for 2023 was that many groups selected to apply Porter's Five Forces industry analysis to analyse the businesses and their industries. Ansoff's Growth Matrix and the Boston City Group (BCG) matrix were also applied by some groups. Business recommendations included suggestions for amended competitive product value offerings, diversification into related markets with related products, product portfolio restructuring, and introduction of or improvement to social media and online customer relationship management solutions. Over the years, business owners and managers have indicated that the groups provide valuable ideas for them to consider and do 'awesome' work.