On behalf of the National Council and National Advisory Forum of the Beta Alpha Psi Fraternity, I am pleased to present to you the 1996-97 annual report. This report summarizes some of the many accomplishments of the over 200 Beta Alpha Psi chapters during the year.

This year was especially notable for being the first year of the partnership between Beta Alpha Psi and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). In August of 1996 the National Office was moved to the New York City offices of the AICPA, and Elizabeth Walsh assumed the position of National Administrator. During her first year on the job, Elizabeth has proved herself a dedicated, talented and versatile member of the Beta Alpha Psi team. The Fraternity is much indebted to the AICPA for their financial, administrative and technical support of our activities during the past year.

This year has been a year of transition as we settled in New York, commenced the design and implementation of an integrated information system for chapter reporting, and worked to improve communication both between the chapters and the National Office and among the individual chapters. Elizabeth and her assistant, Nancy Herbert, have had the heavy responsibility of redesigning many of our administrative systems while at the same time managing the day to day operations of the National Office. With the technical support of the AICPA, significant progress has been made toward these goals.

Some examples of this year's innovations include the online newsletters included in the Beta Alpha Psi Web page, dissemination of fraternity documentation and forms via both diskette and File Transfer Protocol (FTP) on the Internet, and an experimental electronic Form A program to enable more efficient delivery of information on chapter activities to the National Office. A major special project affecting the future development of Beta Alpha Psi has been the work of a newly formed Strategic Planning Committee. This Committee has been charged with the responsibility of developing programs and activities which will better meet the needs of accounting students preparing to enter the accounting profession in the 21st century.

I wish to extend my personal congratulations to the chapters which have achieved special distinctions for their activities during the 1996-97 year. KPMG is again awarding the Superior Chapters with scholarships. Second only to the student members of Beta Alpha Psi are the chapter advisors. Special thanks are due to all of the faculty advisors for their dedication and support of the chapter activities. I wish especially to recognize the six chapter advisors who have been selected to receive this year's Richard E. Claire Outstanding Faculty Advisor Awards funded by Arthur Andersen LLP.

This report also recognizes the Beta Alpha Psi Associates for their support of Beta Alpha Psi, the National Council and the National Advisory Forum for providing the essential structure and guidance of the national chapter, and Ernst & Young LLP for the audit of our financial statements and the preparation of our tax returns.

Finally, I wish to congratulate all of you for making this year another outstanding success for Beta Alpha Psi.

Sincerely,

Penelope Yunker