A group of Memorial MBA students were recently recognized for their forecasting skills, but it has nothing to do with the weather.

A group of MBA students in the B9323 Financial Futures and Options course, working with Dr. Alex Faseruk during the 2006 Winter semester, have taken first prize in the University Forecast Challenge this year.

The contest, sponsored by the Atlantic Canada Chartered Financial Analysts Society, challenges students to predict several financial variables for the end of the year.

Memorial students developed a forecasting model to predict financial variables such as oil prices, the level of the TSX stock index, and the price of gold. Their efforts paid off with a first place finish.

"The Atlantic Society is part of the international CFA organization that offers professional certification and wants to increase its profile in Atlantic Canada. Accordingly, it issued the challenge last winter to the university business schools in the Atlantic region," explained Dr. Faseruk.

For the last two years, the Society has provided a scholarship to a Memorial student who registers in level 1 of the CFA program. In 2006 the recipient was Matt Roberts and Andrew Pope for 2007.

The Atlantic Canada Chartered Financial Analysts Society will award Memorial with a book prize of financial literature valued at $750 for the use of students in preparing for the CFA level 1 exam. Similar collections of books are already held by Dalhousie, Saint Mary’s and UNB-Fredericton. Memorial will formally be recognized for the win at an awards banquet in Halifax on April 19.

Dr. Faseruk also pointed out that the B9323 course last winter also resulted in the production of a term paper from Punit Anand, an MBA student, which won first place in the Canadian Institute of Chartered Business Valuators Research Competition in October 2006.

“It is so important for our students to be recognized for their achievements in these competitions as they provide external validation of the quality of our programs," said Dr. Faseruk.