PwC award ceremony winter semester 2024/2025
On June 24, 2025, the Department of Business Administration and Economics at Dortmund University of Technology was all about academic excellence. For the 33rd time, the auditing and consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) awarded its coveted prizes for outstanding theses in the fields of controlling, accounting, auditing and taxation.
Prizes were awarded for theses that stood out for their academic quality in the winter semester 2024/25. The award ceremony not only provided a stage for the award-winning graduates, but also emphasized the close connection between university research and professional practice - among other things through an exciting guest lecture. This year's awards went to Vinka Basic, Talea Leng, Lea Helena Palleske and Aaron August Engelbertz.
In her Bachelor's thesis, Vinka Basic analyzes the "Use of artificial intelligence in cash flow forecasting". She shows that many companies are still heavily reliant on manual and time-consuming processes when creating forecasts. AI can bring a decisive efficiency gain here - provided that it is used gradually and adapted to the specific requirements. Short-term forecasts in particular offer great potential for initial pilot applications, for example in the area of receivables and payables.
In her master's thesis,Talea Leng dealt with the "Status of digitalization and use of artificial intelligence in tax consulting" and presented "Results of an online survey in North Rhine-Westphalia". Using an online survey of more than 1,000 tax advisory firms, she analyzed the use of digital tools and identified a significant backlog in areas such as client acquisition and document management. Although many tax advisors are generally open to AI, their actual use remains (still) relatively low. Leng recommends increased cooperation, further training and the use of maturity models to make it easier for smaller law firms in particular to catch up. The most important results of this outstanding master's thesis were published in the June issue of the relevant specialist journal "Der Steuerberater".
In her Bachelor's thesis,Lea Helena Palleske examined "The role of the EU framework in promoting existing and future tax incentives to support sustainable business practices". She shows that despite existing programs such as NextGenerationEU, an effective link between tax policy and sustainability goals has hardly been achieved to date. Her work calls for greater harmonization and long-term regulations at EU level, for example through clear criteria and the reduction of climate-damaging subsidies, in order to make sustainable investments predictable.
Aaron August Engelbertz 's master's thesis entitled "Unraveling Algorithm Aversion: An Analytical Framework for Business Contexts" examines the reasons why people prefer to make manual decisions - particularly in the area of cost forecasting - despite the superior results of algorithmic systems. The work develops a theoretical model based on the theory of planned behavior, prospect theory and belief updating. Practical recommendations for action are intended to help companies overcome reservations about algorithms and make strategic use of their potential.
Every semester, the PwC award ceremony recognizes outstanding academic achievements at the interface between theory and practice. This year, it was once again clear that the award-winning work not only makes a significant contribution to academic research, but also provides valuable impetus for business and society.
We would like to congratulate the award winners!