Beta Alpha Psi is a nonprofit international honor and service organization for accounting, finance, and business analytics and digital technology students at AACSB or EFMD/EQUIS-accredited universities. Beta Alpha Psi provides opportunities for development of technical and professional skills to complement university education, participation in community service, and interaction among students, faculty, and professionals.
The Program for Chapter Activities (PCA) serves as a guide to each chapter in planning its own programs and activities. The chapter programs and activities should reflect each chapter's unique student membership and environment. If Beta Alpha Psi's objectives are to be achieved, each chapter must conduct a program encouraging eligible students to join the chapter and actively and enthusiastically participate in its activities. The chapter's activity plan should be carefully thought out and implemented to assure the achievement of both Beta Alpha Psi's and the chapter's stated objectives.
The Program for Chapter Activities establishes guidelines for a minimum level of chapter activity as well as guidelines for chapters who seek recognition for outstanding performance. In addition, the Program for Chapter Activities incorporates features designed to:
Encourage chapters to fulfill the objectives of Beta Alpha Psi and prepare members for careers as financial information professionals,
Identify chapters needing assistance from Chapter Advocates and Professional Partners, and
The Program for Chapter Activities applies to both current and petitioning chapters. Petitioning chapters are eligible for award status, but requirements will not be prorated for petitioning chapters who begin the petitioning process during the reporting year.
In planning for each year, a chapter should organize activities to meet the requirements of one of the following chapter achievement levels:
Chapters striving for the distinguished, superior and gold levels are considered award-seeking chapters.
Annually, Beta Alpha Psi recognizes outstanding achievement as follows:
Chapters must meet certain requirements depending upon the desired achievement level (mission-based, distinguished, superior). The requirements include submission of the following:
Chapters not meeting the mission-based requirements (see below) are placed on probation for the subsequent year. A summary of the required activities by achievement level follows:
Chapter Achievement Level |
Beginning-of-Year Report |
Mid-Year Report |
Initiation |
End-of-Year Report |
Reaching |
Professional Activities |
Service Activities |
Mission Based |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
3 |
6 |
1 |
Distinguished |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
5 |
*6 |
1 |
Superior |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
8 |
*6 |
1 |
*Award seeking chapters must include at least 1 mandatory "Essential Skills" session (Refer to the Essential Skills topics under Professional Activities, Exhibit A)
In addition, to qualify as a superior or distinguished chapter, individual member/candidate professional and service hour requirements are necessary. These requirements encourage involvement of Beta Alpha Psi members and candidates in professional and community service activities.
Chapter Achievement Level |
Minimum Hours of Professional Activities (per Member/Candidate) |
Minimum Hours of Service Activities (per Member/Candidate) |
Total Minimum Hours of Professional and Service Activities (per Member/Candidate) |
Distinguished |
8 |
8 |
20 |
Superior |
12 |
12 |
32 |
Award seeking chapters will be notified of accomplished award status no later than July 1. A chapter may appeal its awarded level of achievement. Appeals must be in writing (e-mail is acceptable) and must be received by the Beta Alpha Psi Executive Office within 10 business days of the receipt of notification of award status. The letter of appeal should include evidence in support of the appeal. Any appeals will be forwarded by the Executive Office to the Chapter Advocacy Council (CAC). The CAC review the appeal and vote to uphold the award level or award a higher chapter achievement level based on the facts and circumstances of the appeal. All decisions of the CAC are final.
For the purpose of measurement of an activity’s time, an hour consists of a 50-minute session. Thus, an activity lasting 50 minutes will be awarded an hour of service or professional activity time while an activity lasting 60 minutes will be awarded 1.2 hours of professional or service activity time.
As we move towards a post-COVID environment, BAP has established a BAP Chapter Reboot program to assist chapters in planning for 2021-2022. Attendance at the BAP Chapter Reboot can provide chapters with Reaching Out Activities (ROAs). The Executive Office will be offering chapters resources for hybrid (live and virtual) opportunities that include the below:
TIMEFRAME | INITIATIVE | DESCRIPTION | REPORTING |
September 14, 2021 |
Virtual Recruitment Event
|
Alumni Reps and 2 representatives from the Professional Partners will conduct a “Why BAP?” session. Faculty and Officers |
New ROA! |
September 28, 2021 10AM and 6PM ET |
Chapter Reporting 101 |
Learn the basics on how to enter your chapter reporting. Consider adding an ROA for this EO sponsored event. Faculty and Officers | New ROA! |
October 2021 (TBD) | Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Event | TBD | New ROA! |
November 2021 (TBD) |
Fall Virtual Initiation Event
|
Professional session with a live virtual initiation at the end | Initiation Point |
BAP members/candidates are permitted to partially fulfill Professional and Service activities by participating in non-BAP OR virtual events (recorded or live).
Non-BAP Hours: Specifically, each member/candidate of a BAP chapter may accumulate up to ten hours (500 minutes) per year of professional activities and a maximum of ten hours (500 minutes) per year of service activities not sponsored by their BAP chapter. These hours should be reported as a single professional or service activity on the Reporting Intranet online activity screen. Fall and spring/winter hours should be reported separately. Chapters must retain detailed information regarding the non-BAP activities until October 1 of the following year.
Non-BAP Virtual Hours: As part of our Chapter Reboot for 2021, we are adding the option for students to contribute hours to their chapter reporting by participating in non-BAP virtual events. Non-BAP virtual events can include attending virtual webcasts, webinars, other virtual student events and virtual certificate programs not sponsored by Beta Alpha Psi.
As a result of COVID-19, many schools face the uncertainty of their campuses being open or continuing with an online curriculum for the 2021-2022 reporting year. Beta Alpha Psi is adapting to each possible scenario. Chapters should consider offering students eligible for membership to join via the standard undergraduate or online membership. Online student membership will allow students to participate in professional sessions virtually and contribute service hours individually. Suggestions for online professional development and service activities are provided below in Exhibit A and Exhibit C.
The online student can meet service requirements via the same model as non-BAP hours and non-BAP virtual hours, only their hours would be recorded as “BAP-Service Hours for Online Students.” Examples of service hours they could report include:
Candidates should be entered into the Reporting Intranet on a monthly basis. Do not enter candidates into the system until the $75 fee has been collected. Be sure all candidates are eligible and the fees have been received prior to input since credits will only be awarded by the Executive Office on an exception basis.
Within 60 days of a candidate being entered into the system, the chapter must pay a one-time, non-refundable fee of $75 to the Executive Office via credit card or check. The check should be made payable to Beta Alpha Psi and include the chapter number on the memo line of the check. A list of candidates for whom the check relates should accompany the check. An invoice with the list of candidates may be printed from the reporting website. For payments made after 60 days, a late fee of $20 per candidate will be charged.
While the Executive Office and Board encourage accepting online students as candidates, the mechanism for measuring professional and service participation level is left to the discretion of each chapter.
Chapters must contact the Executive Office in writing for verification of transfer members. Once the Executive Office has confirmed the transfer student is a member of BAP, the new chapter will enter them into the Reporting Intranet as a new candidate. The Executive Office then credits the $75 fee. If the transfer member requests a certificate from the new chapter, the chapter must pay the $15 processing fee.
All U.S. chapters must submit the Beginning of Year Report by October 15.
All Oceania Region chapters must submit the Beginning of Year Report by June 15.
Submitting Beginning of Year Report:
To complete this report, go to the “Enter Beginning of Year Report” tab in the Reporting Intranet and:
All US chapters must declare themselves as award seeking (if applicable) on the Chapter Profile page by December 15 and complete fall semester reporting by December 15. In addition, ALL petitioning chapters are required to complete a midyear report, whether award seeking or petition based.
All Oceania Region chapters must declare themselves as award seeking by October 1.
All US chapters must prepare and submit an End-of-Year Report by June 1.
All Oceania chapters must complete the End-of-Year Report by December 15.
NOTE: Failure to file the End-of-Year Report by the deadline will result in a $100 late filing penalty.
A reporting guide and webinar recording are available under Reporting Intranet Resources (https://www.bap.org/reporting-intranet-resources).
Submitting End of Year Report:
Go to the “Enter End of Year Report” tab in the Reporting Intranet and:
In order to qualify as an award chapter, all required chapter reporting must be completed by US chapters by June 1. All Oceania chapters must complete reporting by Dec 15. Only under extreme circumstances will exceptions be considered by the Board.
For 2021-2022, chapters may elect to hold an in-person initiation or participate in the Executive Office virtual initiation for Fall 2021 and Spring 2022. All chapters must attend at least one formal Initiation\Installation or virtual initiation event each year. During the event, officers will be installed and new members will be initiated using the procedures defined on the BAP website (https://www.bap.org/initiations). Initiations "in absentia" will only be allowed under extreme circumstances approved by the Board President.
Chapters may choose to have a second Initiation\Installation event during the academic year. This event qualifies as a reaching out activity (ROA).
Reporting Initiations/Installations to the Executive Office: All installations and initiations are to be reported to the Executive Office. When a candidate is initiated, the student should be moved from candidate to initiate status on the Reporting Intranet. This serves as notification to Executive Office to print membership certificates. If the chapter wants to receive membership certificates in time for the ceremony, Executive Office must be notified at least two weeks prior to initiation. Requests for certificates to be sent overnight delivery will cost $50.
All chapters are required to report at least six professional activities per year. Professional activities may be conducted on campus, virtually, as a chapter, or individually. The minutes from each member/candidate professional session (on-campus or online) should be reported as:
Chapters can pick and choose professional topics from the PCA list below.
Credit is not given for prospective candidate meetings, chapter orientation meetings, chapter organizational meetings, chapter business/planning meetings, firm information sessions, initiations and other similar activities that provide no professional component.
Essential Skills
Many students seek to obtain internships and full-time job opportunities through Beta Alpha Psi; however, once they have the job, they must develop their “essential skills” in order to succeed professionally. To aid this development, award-seeking chapters (distinguished and superior) must conduct one mandatory professional session devoted to “Essential Skills.”
Each chapter chooses one of the below topics for its Essential Skills session:
Reporting Essential Skill activities: Essential Skill activities should be entered into the Reporting Intranet as: ES – Topic Title.
All chapters must participate in Reaching Out activities during the year. The following number of activities are required for each achievement level:
Chapters domiciled outside the continental United States may request permission from the Director of Global Activities to substitute other activities for the Reaching Out activities listed below. The maximum number of allowed substitutions will be:
Reporting Reaching Out activities: Chapters should update the “Report Activity > Reaching Out Activities” tab on the Reporting Intranet by December 15 and June 1. Even though more than one chapter member may attend an event, such as a Regional Meeting, only one credit is received for the Reaching Out activity. Most activities also result in participation minutes for the individual(s) attending the event. These minutes should be recorded on the online activity reporting screens in the Reporting Intranet.
The following list includes items qualifying as Executive Office Sponsored Reaching Out Activities:
*All chapters seeking Superior status must attend either the Annual Meeting or a Regional Meeting.
In addition to the items listed above, BAP chapters may sponsor Reaching Out Activities. For each Reaching Out Activity sponsored by the Chapter, upload a brief paragraph describing the activity on the Reporting Internet. For example, a Promoting Careers activity may read as follows:
“On November 5, our chapter hosted 70 high school students on campus to learn about the accounting profession. This event was sponsored along with our state society of CPAs with presentations by CPAs from practice and industry, as well as a panel of our students. The event lasted 4 hours.”
Other examples of ROA’s sponsored by Chapter include:
All chapters, regardless of achievement level, must report one service activity during the year meeting the following requirements:
These activities must be reported on the online Report Activity screen in the Reporting Intranet. See Reporting Intranet Resources for help with reporting.
Chapters seeking Distinguished or Superior award levels must also report a minimum number of service hours per member/candidate. Service hours to report are:
Although there is a minimum number of 8 and 12 hours, respectively, for Distinguished and Superior chapters in the professional and service categories, the total number of hours must be 20 and 32 for Distinguished and Superior award levels.
To be reported as a service activity sponsored by Beta Alpha Psi, the event either:
Any money received from a service activity must be donated to a charitable organization or used for a charitable cause. Activities for which members receive course credit (with the exception of VITA) are not considered service activities. Finally, donating non-perishable food items to a non-profit organization cannot serve as a substitute for a service activity. We suggest chapter events that include organizing and working at a food drive event. Creating pantry packs and providing words of encouragement with the pantry packs is encouraged.
A definition and examples of service activities are provided below.
Definition of Service Activities
Since part of the mission of Beta Alpha Psi fosters enthusiasm for service, chapters are encouraged to participate in campus and community service activities. The service category is intended to be flexible and adaptable to the needs and desires of individual chapters.
Service is the giving of one’s time, energy and talents to benefit either the campus or local community. Community service involves making a difference to these entities through the actions of caring for others by the chapter and/or its members and includes direct service or indirect service. Direct service actively involves the chapter with a community group or organization (either on or off campus). Indirect service provides help or resources through a “round-about” approach and includes preparation time for charitable events, raising funds for charity, or assisting with “back office” functions such as accounting or computer systems. In evaluating community service, we suggest that the chapter consider the following questions.
Activities not constituting community service include:
Examples of Service Activities
Online Service Activities such as Operation Gratitude, Cardz for Kidz!, and Neighborly “Write Your Neighbor” | |
Community Impact page on BAP.org site [New for FY22] | |
Volunteering for non-profits such as: Habitat for Humanity, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Junior Achievement, Recordings for the Blind, Adopt-a-highway, Adopt-a-trail, Adopt-a-family, and service activities sponsored by religious organizations |
|
Organizing and/or participating in a charitable event such as: Fund raising projects for charity, Food drives (note: must organize, not just donate), soup kitchens, blood drives, walk-a-thons, bowl-a-thons, coaching youth teams |
|
Volunteering to assist with university events/activities including university telethons, assisting the career placement office with a career fair and/or proctoring exam for a department. |
|
Organizing a Financial Literacy event or similar activity |
|
Volunteer Income Tax Assistance – VITA training time is counted as professional hours and VITA tax preparation time is counted as service hours, regardless of any academic credit earned. Each chapter reporting VITA as a service activity will be required to submit the VITA Summary Report to the IRS. You can find the report here: https://www.bap.org/volunteer-income-tax-assistance. |
|
Host Annual Meeting or Regional Meeting – Hours will be determined by the Meeting Chair, Chapter Advocate and/or sponsoring University |
|
Consultation with on or off-campus organizations about tax matters, bookkeeping, business analytics or digital technology, or other work of a technical nature |
|
Tutoring sessions - group, e-mail, or one on one - without monetary compensation. Tutoring sessions count if the sessions were scheduled and are documented, regardless of whether anyone attends. Please report this activity as a single service activity per semester on the mid- year and/or end-of-year workbook |
|
Mentoring of other chapters (a chapter must receive pre-approval of its Chapter Advocate) |
|
Create/update chapter web page (up to a maximum of 10 hours for creating and three hours for updating) |
|
Chapter officers and committee chairs may receive up to 10 hours for their time providing service to the chapter. A maximum of 10 hours each may be reported for up to 10 officers and committee chairs. Please report this at the end of each semester or at the end of the year on a single report. The limit of 10 is for the year, not by semester or quarter. |
Deloitte has supported Beta Alpha Psi at the chapter, regional and national level for decades and been the proud sponsor of the annual best practices competition since 2001. Beta Alpha Psi’s vision fits well with Deloitte’s culture, which is built on inclusion, collaboration, high performance, and opportunity. That combination helps our professionals make a difference individually and collectively, and it makes Deloitte one of the most rewarding places to work.
Jeremy Carrine / Kelly Brastrom
Deloitte