INTRODUCTION
Beta Alpha Psi is an international honors Fraternity that enhances the university educational experience by providing interaction with finance, information systems and accounting professionals, conducting technical and personal development programs through campus, regional and International meetings, and promoting and encouraging community service. Beta Alpha Psi is a co-curricular experience with an established set of activity and program guidelines that if fulfilled bring great value to student pledges and members.
OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAM FOR CHAPTER ACTIVITIES
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 the Fraternity's objectives are to be achieved, each chapter must conduct a program that will encourage the maximum number of 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 the Fraternity'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 Regional Directors and Advisory Forum members, and
- Recognize chapters that excel in serving their members, campus, community, and/or profession.
POLICIES OF THE FRATERNITY
PROFESSIONAL NATURE
In keeping with the professional nature of Beta Alpha Psi, the Board of Directors requires adherence to the policy that no national, regional or local chapter activity has content that is demeaning or derogatory to any individual or group of individuals.
NO ALCOHOL POLICY
Beta Alpha Psi prohibits the consumption of alcoholic beverages at any meetings, functions, or events that are sponsored, co-sponsored, publicized, or otherwise endorsed by Beta Alpha Psi.
The prohibition of alcohol applies to the following:
- Chapter meetings, regional and annual meetings, the Thomas J. Burns Undergraduate Student Seminar, the Graduate Case Seminar, and all other meetings/programs of Beta Alpha Psi;
- All alcoholic products whether provided by the chapter, by a speaker or external organization, or whether available at a charge to members and/or guests. This prohibition includes events that are co-sponsored with another organization.
Violation of this policy will result in forfeiture of award-status for the year or probation and/or possible other sanctions as deemed appropriate by the Beta Alpha Psi Board of Directors.
NO SOLICITATION POLICY
It is the policy of the Board not to permit chapter activities to be used as a conduit for the sale of products or services to students. Recruiting activities are included in this policy. Persons should not be asked to participate in a chapter activity if their participation is primarily promotional in nature. Any presentation regarding professional examinations, preparation for the examination, or a demonstration of an examination review program by a representative of a provider of review services is considered promotional in nature. Any chapter event at which the chapter permits the solicitation of its members to purchase products or services will result in the event being assigned no credit in any category of the Program for Chapter Activities.
CHAPTER ACHIEVEMENT LEVELS
In planning for each year, a chapter should organize activities to meet the requirements of one of the following chapter achievement levels:
- Baseline chapter
- Distinguished chapter
- Superior chapter
Chapters striving for the distinguished and superior levels are considered award seeking-chapters.
RECOGNITIONS FOR AWARD-SEEKING CHAPTERS
Annually, the Fraternity recognizes chapters for outstanding achievement as follows:
- Superior Chapters will receive a financial award contributed by the KPMG Foundation and a recognition plaque or plate from Beta Alpha Psi.
- Distinguished Chapters will be recognized by Beta Alpha Psi.
- The Most Improved Chapter will receive a $500 Nancy Harke Award. Significantly improved chapters will also be recognized but will not receive a financial award.
- Best Practices Awards sponsored by Deloitte & Touche will be given each year based on criteria established by the Board of Directors. Information regarding Best Practice Awards will be available on the Beta Alpha Psi website.
ADJUSTED MEMBER/PLEDGE BASE (AMPB)
To determine whether or not a chapter has distinguished itself, an average member/pledge base must be determined. The member/pledge base is an average of the number of members and pledges on a chapter's roster for each of the eight months September through April. A chapter whose roster changes because of, for example, students dropping as pledges, students going on and returning from internships, and members graduating, will have a member/pledge base that reflects an average of these changes.
The adjusted member/pledge base (AMPB) is the average member/pledge base for the year multiplied by 80% and rounded down. This adjusted member/pledge base is used to calculate a chapter's required activity levels. The 80% factor allows for a certain number of inactive students in each chapter without penalizing the chapter.
The chapter is responsible for updating its membership list as changes in the membership occur. PCA credit for professional and service activities can only be entered for recorded members/pledges; it is critical that updates are made before the professional and service activity worksheets are started.
Pledges
At the time a pledge is entered into the system, the chapter is responsible for paying a one-time, non-refundable fee of $45 to the International Office. The check should be made payable to Beta Alpha Psi and include the chapter number on the check. A list of individuals for whom the check relates should accompany the check.
RI Guide/Help >> Updating Membership Information
Timing of Membership Changes
The member/pledge base is in effect for the entire month. The chapter must decide whether to include an entering or leaving member/pledge for the month. If the member/pledge remains in the member/pledge base for the month, then all activities of the member/pledge may be reported for PCA credit for that month. If the member/pledge is not included in the member/pledge base for the month, then no activities of the member/pledge may be reported for PCA credit for that month. Any changes in membership must be completed before preparing activity worksheets for the month.
Example - New Pledge:
A new pledge joins BAP on September 15th (this is the beginning pledge date) and contributes 300 minutes during September. In order to report these minutes and be included in the AMPB calculation for September, the pledge must be added to the membership roster before preparing your September activity reports (no later than October 15 for award seeking chapters). This also applies to those returning from internship/non-enrollment, inactive and not eligible status. In order to report time for these students, they must be moved back to pledge or active member status.
Example - Graduating Senior:
A senior graduates on December 15. The member contributed 150 minutes during November and 90 minutes during December. The chapter moves the graduate to alumni status effective December 15. He is included in the AMPB calculation for December and the chapter may report his activity time for activities prior to December 15. The move to alumni status must be made prior to preparing activity worksheets for the month. This also applies to inactive pledges and those not eligible for membership. For inactive pledges, pledges not eligible for membership, members on internship/non-enrollment, or graduating members, their time can be reported until the effective date in which they become inactive.
Example - Calculation of AMPB:
A chapter has 20 members on August 30. During September 12 pledges are added. Two pledges drop out in November and 3 members graduate in December. In February, 4 members go on internships and return in April. Eight Beta Alpha Psi members graduate in May.
The member/pledge base is determined as follows:
| Month |
Member/Pledges |
Comments |
| September |
32 |
Added the pledges in September |
| October |
32 |
|
| November |
30 |
Did not include the pledges in November |
| December |
27 |
Decided not to include the graduates in December |
| January |
27 |
|
| February |
23 |
Decided not to include interns in February |
| March |
23 |
|
| April |
27 |
Included returning interns in April |
| Total |
221 |
|
| Average Member/Pledge Base |
27.625 |
221 / 8 |
| Adjusted Member/Pledge Base |
22 |
27.625 * 80% = 22.1
Rounded down |
The example is for illustrative purposes, the adjusted member/pledge base is automatically calculated on the reporting intranet.
When an AMPB is required for an individual month, the AMPB for the month equals the actual member/pledge base for the month multiplied by 80% and rounded down. For example, if the member pledge base for January is 27, then the AMPB for January is 21 (27 * 80% = 21.6, rounded down).
CHAPTER REQUIREMENTS
Chapters must meet certain requirements depending upon the desired achievement level. The requirements include submission of reports, initiation, reaching out activities, professional activities and service activities. Chapters not meeting the baseline requirements will be placed on probation for the subsequent year.
A summary of the required activities by achievement level follows:
MINIMUM ACTIVITIES REQUIRED BASED ON CHAPTER ACHIEVEMENT LEVEL
Chapter Achievement
Level |
Beginning of
Year Report |
Initiation |
End of
Year
Report |
National
Regional
Activities |
Professional
Activities |
Service
Activities |
| Baseline |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
3 |
6 |
1 |
| Distinguished |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
6 |
6 |
1 |
| Superior |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
9 |
6 |
1 |
To qualify as a superior or distinguished chapter, there are individual member/pledge professional and service hour requirements. These requirements are designed to encourage involvement of Beta Alpha Psi members and pledges in professional and community service activities, not only as a chapter but also individually.
ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES REQUIRED FOR AWARD SEEKING CHAPTERS
| Chapter Achievement Level |
Minimum Hours* of
Professional Activities
(per AMPB) |
Minimum Hours* of
Service Activities
(per AMPB) |
Total Required Hours*
of Professional and
Service Activities
(per AMPB) |
| Distinguished |
10 |
10 |
25 |
| Superior |
15 |
15 |
40 |
Under the Program of Chapter Activities, an hour consists of 50 minutes. For example, an activity that lasts 60 minutes will be awarded 1.2 hours of credit under the PCA.
BEGINNING-OF-THE-YEAR-REPORT
All chapters must submit the Beginning-of-the-Year Report by October 15.
The specific items to be included are:
- Plan of activities, including dates and programs (either planned or anticipated) detailing the chapter's plan for fulfilling the baseline activities. Upload the Plan of Activities into the document library via the reporting intranet.
- The chapter must update the Chapter Information section on the reporting intranet. This section lists current officers, Faculty Advisor, and other information. Once updated, submit this information via the reporting intranet to the International Office.
- A check for the annual maintenance fee made payable to Beta Alpha Psi. The check should be mailed to the International Office.
- If the chapter by-laws have changed from the previous year, upload a copy of the revised by-laws into the document library via the reporting intranet.
RI Guide/Help >> Beginning of the Year Tasks
INITIATION
All chapters must hold at least one new member initiation, officer election and installation event each year. The official ceremony should be followed. Each initiate must be present at the initiation ceremony. Initiations "in absentia" will only be allowed under extreme circumstances approved by the Board President.
First Initiation: The first initiation should be reported on the professional activity worksheet with zero hours of activity time. This is the only reporting requirement for the first initiation.
Second Initiation: A second initiation should be reported on the professional activity worksheet with zero hours AND a separate document providing the date of initiation and the initiates must be uploaded into the document library via the reporting intranet. The document upload is required in order to receive credit for the second initiation as a reaching out activity.
When a pledge is initiated, the student should be moved from pledge status to the initiates/national office inbox on the reporting intranet. Moving the student to initiate status will serve as notification to National Office to print membership certificates. If the chapter wants to receive membership certificates in time for the ceremony, then International Office must be notified at least three weeks prior to initiation.
Award-seeking chapters should file the initiation report by the 15th of the month following the activity. Chapters with a reporting year-end of May 31 should report a May initiation by June 1. Baseline chapters may file initiation reports no later than December 15 and May 15 for chapters with a reporting year-end of April 30 or June 1 for chapters with a reporting year-end of May 31.
YEAR-END REPORT
All chapters must prepare and submit a Year-End Report by June 1. The Year-End Report includes the following items:
- a Statement of Financial Position and Statement of Activities including either a Faculty Advisor approval statement or an Audit Report
- IRS Form 990
- a tax release form
- an update of the Chapter Information section on the reporting intranet
- a statement regarding the chapter's expected achievement level and verification of the non-BAP hours by the chapter advisor
Detailed information is included in Exhibit A.
RI Guide/Help >> End of the Year Tasks
REACHING OUT ACTIVITIES
All chapters must participate in reaching out activities during the year. The following number of activities are required, depending on the chapter's achievement level:
- Baseline
- Distinguished
- Superior
|
3 activities
6 activities
9 activities |
REACHING OUT ACTIVITIES INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING:
*Annual Meeting Attendance
*Presentation at Annual Meeting
*Regional Meeting Attendance
*Presentation at Regional Meeting
*National Community Service Day
*Regional Leadership Conference Attendance
* Thomas J. Burns Undergraduate Student Seminar Attendance
*Graduate Case Seminar Attendance
Second Initiation
Nomination for Alumni Representative on Board of Directors
Nomination for Beta Alpha Psi Professional of the Year
*Promoting careers in accounting/finance/information systems (a chapter may count up to 2 events per year)
career orientations related to accounting, finance and information systems to: pre-decision college students, college students from other majors, or junior high and high school students. Beta Alpha Psi events or programs presented to prospective Beta Alpha Psi pledges which are designed primarily to promote the areas of accounting, finance, and information systems to undecided students but have as a secondary effect promoting Beta Alpha Psi are acceptable. However, an event designed simply to increase Beta Alpha Psi membership is not acceptable as "promoting careers" nor is an orientation session for members/pledges.
*Minority recruitment (a chapter may count up to 2 events per year)
*Entering resume information into the resume database (For a chapter to receive credit as a Reaching Out Activity, the number of members and pledges completing the activity must be equal to the chapter's AMPB in the month the activity is reported).
Formalized Alumni Activity
a major event to promote communication between alumni and their alma mater. This event should involve participation of at least 30% of the current chapter membership as well as a significant number of alumni. Prior approval by the Director of Chapter Activities is required.
Activities with another Beta Alpha Psi Chapter - a professional activity co-sponsored with another Beta Alpha Psi chapter. In order to promote interaction between chapters, this co-sponsored event should involve at least 30% of each chapter's current membership.
*These activities require that hours also be reported by the chapter for the individual(s) receiving credit for the professional or service time. The International Office will enter the credit on the National/Regional worksheet but the chapter must enter the individual time on the professional and/or service worksheets. Even though more than one chapter member may attend some events, such as Regional Meetings, only one credit is received for the reaching out activity itself but the attendance times may be counted by each individual participant.
RI Guide/Help >> Working with the Document Library
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
All chapters, regardless of achievement level, must report at least six professional activities during the year that meet the following requirements:
- at least 30% of the AMPB for the month in which the program is held attend the event, and
- the event must be at least 1 hour (50 minutes) in duration.
In addition to the six professional activities, individual member/pledge participation requirements must be met, depending on the chapter's achievement level:
- Baseline Chapters: At least 50% of the AMPB must individually report at least 3 hours of professional activity at some time throughout the year.
- Distinguished and Superior Chapters: At least 50% of the AMPB must individually report at least 5 hours of professional activity at some time throughout the year.
Chapters seeking to achieve Distinguished or Superior award levels must also report a minimum number of professional activity hours per AMPB. Distinguished chapters must report 10 hours per AMPB and Superior chapters must report 15 hours per AMPB. Although there is a minimum number of 10 and 15 hours respectively in the professional and service categories, the total number of hours must be 25 and 40. This means that a superior chapter can have up to 25 hours in one category (either professional or service) and a distinguished chapter can have up to 15 hours in one category.
Example:
A chapter with an AMPB of 21 must have 840 (21 x 40) total professional and service hours for superior chapter status. Of these 735 hours, a minimum of 315 (21 x 15) hours must be professional and 315 must be service. The remaining 210 (840 less 315 professional less 315 service) hours are flexible and, based upon the desires of the chapter, may be professional or service or a mixture of both.
At the individual level, one hour of a professional activity not sponsored by Beta Alpha Psi may be awarded credit for each hour of professional activity sponsored by Beta Alpha Psi. Chapters must retain detailed information regarding the non-BAP activity including 1) the member/pledge involved in the activity, 2) the number of hours of participation and 3) a description of the activity (sponsoring organization, speaker information, and title of presentation) until October 1 of the following year.
Example:
A student member attends a Finance Society meeting and reports one hour (50 minutes) of professional activity to the chapter reporting secretary for submission on the Beta Alpha Psi worksheet. For that hour to count, it must be matched by one hour of professional Beta Alpha Psi sponsored activity sometime during the year.
The time for a professional activity consists of the professional part of the presentation-the speaker and questions and answers related to the presentation. A chapter business meeting (orientation, officer elections) does not count as a professional meeting unless there is a professional program, in which case only the professional portion of the program receives credit.
Exhibit B provides examples of professional activities and professional meeting topics.
All student presentations, including those made at annual and regional meetings, as well as at chapter meetings, will earn professional hours for the length of the session. In addition, credit for two times the length of the presentation will be granted to the individual presenter for professional development time. The chapter should report the preparation time as a separate professional activity.
A chapter may report up to two social activities with professionals per year as professional activities. The activity time is limited to 1 hour (50 minutes) per individual per activity. Chapter socials involving only chapter members/pledges are not eligible for credit.
SERVICE ACTIVITIES
All chapters, regardless of achievement level, must report one service activity during the year that meets the following requirements:
- Participation by at least 30% of the AMPB for the month in which the service is performed, and
- the activity must be at least 1 hour (50 minutes) in duration.
In addition to the one service activity, individual member/pledge participation requirements must be met, depending on the chapter's achievement level:
- Baseline Chapters: At least 50% of the AMPB must individually report at least 3 hours of service activity at some time throughout the year.
- Distinguished and Superior Chapters: At least 50% of the AMPB must individually report at least 5 hours of service activity at some time throughout the year.
Chapters seeking Distinguished or Superior award levels must also report a minimum number of service hours per AMPB. Distinguished chapters must report 10 hours per AMPB and Superior chapters must report 15 hours per AMPB. Although there is a minimum number of 10 and 15 hours respectively in the professional and service categories, the total number of hours must be 25 and 40. This means that a superior chapter can have up to 25 hours in one category (either professional or service) and a distinguished chapter can have up to 15 hours in one category.
Individual members/pledges may perform service activities that are not sponsored by Beta Alpha Psi. At the individual level, one hour of credit will be awarded for non-BAP sponsored service performed for each hour of BAP sponsored service performed by the individual. Chapters must retain detailed information regarding the non-BAP activity including 1) the member/pledge involved in the activity, 2) the number of hours of participation and 3) a description of the activity (organization receiving service and type of service provided) until October 1 of the following year.
To be reported as a service activity sponsored by Beta Alpha Psi, the event either (1) must be organized and carried out by the Beta Alpha Psi chapter or (2) must involve participation by the members of the Beta Alpha Psi chapter as a group (in which case the chapter has agreed to participate as a chapter and has announced the event at several meetings and promoted participation in the event.) Any money received from a service activity must be donated to a charitable organization or used for a charitable cause.
A definition and examples of service activities are provided in Exhibit C.
REPORTING ACTIVITIES TO INTERNATIONAL OFFICE
AWARD-SEEKING (Both Superior and Distinguished) CHAPTERS
Award-seeking chapters must report via the intranet to the International Office on a monthly basis (unless otherwise specified). These monthly intranet reports are due by the 15th of the month following the activity (or the next business day following the 15th if the 15th falls on a weekend or holiday, midnight Eastern Standard time). (September activities must be reported by October 15th, October activities by November 15th, and so forth.) In order for awards earned to be identified on a timely basis, chapters with reporting year-end of May 31 must report May activities no later than June 1. However, a chapter does have the option to report May activities in the following year as long as this policy is approved by the International Office and followed consistently by that chapter.
Professional and service activities are reported on the professional and service activity worksheets. Reaching out activities require that a document be uploaded into the document library. Documents are NOT required for national and regional meetings, the national student seminar and the graduate case seminar.
Each late activity (worksheet) report will be assessed a penalty point per category. (Because a worksheet must be filed for professional activities and service activities as well as Reaching Out Activities, three penalty late points are possible in any given month). Penalty points may also be assessed by the Director of Chapter Activities or International Office for significant reporting errors made repeatedly by chapters.
More than three penalty points in a reporting year will result in a chapter's forfeiting its award status for that year.
RI Guide/Help >> Working with Activity Worksheets
BASELINE CHAPTERS
Preferably all baseline activity reports should be submitted to International Office inbox by the 15th of the month following the date of the activity (except for the beginning- and end-of-the-year reports and other activities with special deadlines). However, a baseline chapter may choose to report only four times during the year - the beginning of year report due October 15, activity reports due no later than December 15 and May 15 and the Year-End Report due June 1.
Exhibit A
The Year-End Report
The Year-End Report includes the five items described below:
- Statement of Financial Position and Statement of Activities for the chapter prepared by the treasurer, and reviewed and approved by the Faculty Advisor.
For chapters with gross receipts of less than $25,000, the Faculty Advisor must sign the following statement:
"I, __________, Faculty Advisor of the ___________ Chapter, have reviewed and approved the (year) financial statements for the _____________ Chapter."
For chapters with gross receipts of more than $25,000, the financial statements must be audited. The Audit Report replaces the Faculty Advisor statement for these chapters.
The Statement of Financial Position, Statement of Activities and the Faculty Advisor Statement or Audit Report should be uploaded into the document library. The Financial Reporting Guide is a resource for Chapter Treasurers with a section on the end-of-year report.
- For chapters with gross receipts of less than $25,000, only a signed IRS Form 990 is required. The signed form should be uploaded into the document library.
For chapters with gross receipts in excess of $25,000, IRS Form 990 must be completed and signed. One copy of the signed form should be uploaded into the document library and one copy of the signed form should be mailed to International Office.
- Properly signed tax release form. This form should be uploaded into the document library.
- Chapters must update the Chapter information section on the reporting intranet and submit the update to the International Office inbox. If no changes are required, then the chapter should provide a statement in the Comments box of the Chapter Information section verifying that the information is current.
- The Faculty Advisor must upload a statement into the document library that contains the following:
- the chapter's expected achievement level for the year (type of award to be received or baseline or probationary status) and
- a signed statement verifying the non-BAP hours reported by the chapter during the year
"I, __________, Faculty Advisor of the ___________ Chapter, have reviewed and verified that the non-BAP professional and service hours reported by the Chapter meet the definition of professional or service activities under the Program of Chapter Activities."
Chapters should make every effort to scan documents requiring signatures and upload those documents via the reporting intranet. For chapters without access to a scanner, the Faculty Advisor statement regarding the financials (or the Audit Report), the Form 990, the tax release form and the Faculty Advisor statement regarding award status and non-BAP hours should be mailed or faxed to International Office.
Exhibit B
Professional Activities and Professional Meeting Topics
Examples of Professional Activities include, but are not limited, to the following:
- Chapter professional meetings
- Joint meetings with professional organizations
- Joint meetings with on-campus organizations
- Local seminars/workshops (but not those involving "paid" tuition)
- Field trips
- Meet-the-Firms Night or Activity (must be a single event where multiple firms are represented and purpose is to provide a significant number of students with information about various firms and industries. This should not be strictly a recruiting event.)
- Publications (articles or newsnotes for national or alumni newsletter; copy of publication must be submitted for credit)
- Executive-in-Residence/Professor-for-a-Day programs (time based upon the time a member/pledge attends sessions "taught" by the guest)
- Entering resumes into the resume database-individual credit of 1 hour (50 minutes) for each member/pledge resume entered
- Mock interview activity (must be an event where multiple firms are represented and all member/pledges are eligible to participate. This should not be a recruiting event.)
- Social activities with professionals - up to two activities per year with a maximum time of 1 hour (50 minutes) per activity
Credit is not given for pledge "rushes", orientation meetings, organizational meetings, chapter business/planning meetings, initiation and similar activities that provide no professional component.
Examples of Professional Meeting Topics/Activities
Audit of chapter financial statements
E-commerce
Ethics
The paperless audit
Internet for financial information research
Analyzing financial statements
Use of computer software
New tax law
Off balance sheet risk
Etiquette
Corporate finance
Forensic accounting
Golf tournament with prof. (social activity) |
Improving communication skills
Developing leadership skills
Stress management
Marketing business services
Comparing different career paths
Derivatives and other financial instruments
Fraud detection
Investments
Going public (IPOs)
Resumes
Systems development
Not-for-profit accounting
Softball game with prof. (social activity) |
Business practice in (name of country)
Time management
International accounting
Professional liability
Management of accounting / consulting practice
Advantages of graduate education
Deregulation
Implementing new systems
Internships
Dress for success
Creating a web page
Interviewing skills
Legislative changes impacting business |
Exhibit C
Service Activity Examples
Since part of the mission of Beta Alpha Psi is to foster 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.
What is service? As the name implies, 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. It includes direct service or indirect service. Direct service means becoming actively involved with a community group or organization (either on or off campus). Direct service includes tutoring, building a Habitat for Humanity house, working with children at the Boys and Girls club, or preparing and serving food at the soup kitchen. Indirect service means providing resources or help through a "round-about" approach. Indirect service 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.
How does this activity benefit the member/pledge?
How does this activity benefit the organization/individual(s) being assisted?
Why are we (am I) doing this?
Activities that do not constitute community service include assisting friends or family or volunteering to participate in events where the underlying purpose is recruitment. If, in reporting to International Office, the activity could be interpreted as involving recruiting, then it is the chapter's responsibility to explain adequately in the report why it should not be considered as such.
Examples of Service Activities
Volunteer Income Tax Assistance
Habitat for Humanity
Big Brothers/Big Sisters
University telethons
Adopt-a-trail
Fund raising projects for charity
Food drives
Service activities sponsored by religious organization
Walk-a-thons, bowl-a-thons, etc. |
Recordings for the Blind
Junior Achievement
TV Telethons
Adopt-a-highway
Adopt-a-family
Cashier at fund-raising auctions for charities
Blood drives
Coaching youth teams
Assisting the Career Placement Office with a Career Fair |
| Proctoring exams for department (for example, proctoring a common final at the end of the semester, not proctoring an exam for an individual professor) |
| Host Annual Meeting * |
| Host National Service/Leadership Conference * |
| Host Regional Meeting ** |
| Host Regional Service/Leadership Conference ** |
| Host National Student Seminar *** |
| Host Graduate Case Seminar *** |
| Tutoring sessions - group, e-mail, or one on one - without monetary compensation. Tutoring sessions can count if the sessions were scheduled, announced, or part of the regular plan and are documented, regardless of whether anyone attends. Tutoring is best reported monthly. |
| Consultation with campus or off-campus organizations about tax matters, bookkeeping, information systems, or other work of a technical nature |
| Mentoring of other chapters (includes petitioning and probationary chapters; a chapter must have received pre-approval of its Regional Director for this activity to count) |
| Create/update chapter web page (to a maximum of 10 hours for creating and 3 hours for updating) |
| Officers and committee chairs for a chapter may receive up to 100 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. |
| |
| * time will be determined by the Director of Chapter Activities and Annual Meeting Chair |
| ** time will be determined by the Director of Chapter Activities and Regional Director |
| *** time will be determined by the Director of Chapter Activities and sponsoring University |
Best Practices Procedures
Best Practices
“Best Practices” are activities engaged in by the individual chapters that further the ideals, principles, and objectives of Beta Alpha Psi and are designed to achieve specific goals identified by the International Board of Directors each year. These activities should exemplify the spirit and purpose of Beta Alpha Psi and should be of a nature that other chapters may emulate these practices to help achieve these goals on an International scale.
Goal of the Best Practices Competition
The Best Practices competition is designed to encourage chapters to engage in innovative and unique activities that advance specific goals of Beta Alpha Psi. This encouragement is provided with verbal recognition and monetary rewards to chapters that demonstrate extraordinary achievement in these areas in competition with their peers.
Competitive Awards
Each chapter will present their activity at their respective Regional Meeting and the first place winners in each category from each Regional Meeting will be eligible to compete at the National meeting. D eloitte & Touche, LLP provides the funding for both regional and national Best Practices Awards with $500, $250, and $125 awarded for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishers in each category at the regional meetings and $1,000 for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finishers in each category at the national meetings.
Best Practices Adopted by the Board for 2004
- Professional – Promoting Accounting, Finance, and Information Systems careers to the Community. Goal: To increase public awareness of the benefits of careers in Accounting, Finance, and Information Systems.
- Service – Most informative and useful website (does not have to be a Beta Alpha Psi website). Goal: To increase the knowledge of the members of Beta Alpha Psi in determining the importance of the information that should be included on a website and to increase their skills in providing this information on a website .
- Innovation – Anything that does not fit the categories above. Goal: To increase activities by the chapters that furthers the ideals, principles, and objectives of Beta Alpha Psi that may be emulated by other chapters.
General Guidelines
- Best Practices Procedures Included in PCA – Best Practices Procedures (including current categories and evaluation form) are included (as Exhibit D) in the Program for Chapter Activities to make them readily available to all chapters.
- Inclusion on Website – The categories with a clear description of the activity and the goal that it is designed to achieve will be included on the website each year. These should be general goals so that the activities encouraged will not be limited to the imagination of the Board. This information will be provided on the website and emailed to all chapters no later than September 1 st each year.
- Judges – Judges should be selected by the host chapter from Forum members, Board members, Professionals, and Faculty Advisors (who do not have chapters competing) in attendance at the meeting.
- Advance Information for Judges – The host chapter should provide the judges with a copy of an abstract for each presentation in the competition, a list of the Best Practices categories with the goal each category is designed to achieve, and an evaluation form at least one week in advance of the meeting at which they will be judging. The host chapters will also have copies of this information available at the meeting.
- Judging Team – To improve the consistency of the judging, only one judging team should be used for each Best Practices category at each meeting. It is preferred that one team of judges evaluates all categories, but this may not be practical from a scheduling viewpoint.
- Regional Director Duties – The Regional Director should meet with the judging team prior to the Best Practices competition at the regional meetings to explain the process and to answer any questions that the team members may have. The first year Regional Directors should be in charge of this oversight duty at the International meetings.
- Presentations – All presentations should adhere to the prescribed time allocations and should be loaded on the computer in the presentation rooms prior to the actual presentation time to reduce setup time between presentations. To facilitate this process, the actual presentations should be submitted to the host chapter(s) no later than when the presenting chapter registers for the meeting. The submission time and procedures shall be determined by the host chapter(s).
- National Presenters on BAP Web Site – The abstracts and PowerPoint presentations from the most recent year presentations at the National meeting should be made available to on the Beta Alpha Psi web site.
Submission Procedures
Abstract : An abstract of the presentation should be provided to the host chapter according to the timetable and procedures established by the individual host chapter of the Regional/International meetings. The abstract should be in good form and be free of grammatical and spelling errors. An abstract is a summary of the salient points of the presentation in less than one page, a PowerPoint presentation IS NOT considered to be an abstract. Meeting the submission criteria of the host chapter, as well as the quality of the abstract, will be considered by the judges in rating the Best Practices competition. A copy of each abstract, these procedures, and the evaluation form should be forwarded by the host chapter to the judges for the Best Practices competition at least one week in advance of the meeting at which they are to be the judges so that they may review them in advance. Judges should be informed that copies of these materials will also be available at the registration desk at the meeting.
Evaluation Procedures
Evaluation Form – A generic evaluation form is provided to provide guidance to the judges of the Best Practices competition. This form is provided to give both the participants and the judges a set of criteria that convey the general goals of the Board for the Best Practices competition. However, it is NOT meant to be a definitive piece of work that will encompass every aspect of the broad range of presentations and activities that will be judged, nor does it provide omnipotent judgment as to the weighting of these factors. At best, any evaluation of this type of presentation is a subjective measure that should allow the individual judge some discretion in the applicability and weighting of the criteria to establish their competitive rankings. The judges will receive a copy of these procedures and the evaluation form with their copy of the abstract. The evaluation criteria are generalized to cover a broad spectrum of activities. It will be up to the individual judge as to how to apply these criteria to a specific activity and presentation. The judges should use their individual judgment to appropriately weigh all the criteria in making their competitive ranking.
Summary Evaluation – One judge will act as moderator for the team and summarize the competitive rankings of the activities by each member of the judging team to determine overall rankings of the competing chapters. This summary evaluation should be provided to the host chapter and to the Regional Director at the regional meetings and to the First Year Regional Directors at the International meeting. The Regional Director will forward this information to the International office so that cash awards may be processed.
Formative Feedback – In order to improve the Best Practices competition, and to provide a learning opportunity for the participants at the meeting, the judges should provide formative feedback on the Best Practices competition at the end of the meeting prior to announcing the winners. This feedback should be in a general form that does not identify specific chapters or presenters. It should include both positive points from the presentations as well as areas that need improvement so that the participants will be provided information on what the judges considered to be important. If possible, this could be in the form of “themes” that were observed in more than one presentation.
Best Practices Evaluation Form
This form is provided to give both the participants and the judges a set of criteria that convey the general goals of the Board for the Best Practices competition. However, it is NOT meant to be a definitive piece of work that will encompass every aspect of the broad range of presentations and activities that will be judged, nor does it provide omnipotent judgment as to the weighting of these factors. At best, any evaluation of this type of presentation is a subjective measure that should allow the individual judge some discretion in the applicability and weighting of the criteria to establish their competitive rankings. The evaluation criteria are generalized to cover a broad spectrum of activities. It will be up to the individual judge as to how to apply these criteria to a specific activity and presentation. Additional criteria may be considered by the judges if it is deemed that they would help assess the activity in achieving the stated goal.
The following items should be considered in the rankings :
Abstract – The abstract should be evaluated on the timeliness of submission, grammar, spelling, and overall quality of the abstract.
Presentation – What is the overall quality of the presentation?
Goal Achievement – To what extent does this practice achieve the intent of the goal as stated by BAP in determining the Best Practice category? Both the substance of the activity as well as the degree of completion should be considered.
Adaptable to other chapters – To what extent may this practice be followed by other chapters to achieve the overall goal of BAP?
Future of this activity – What do you consider to be the potential for this activity to be continued in the future?
Other – as determined by the judges prior to the competition.
Meeting: Date:
Category being judged:
Judges – Please list the University and chapter number below. You will then rank the presentations using the generic criteria above and place your overall competitive ranking of these activities in the right column. This is a simple competitive ranking with the best overall activity being ranked number 1, the second being number 2, etc. Please note any significant strengths or areas in need of improvement on any of the presentations at the bottom of the page. This information may be used in summary form, without identifying the chapter, as a formative evaluation at the end of the meeting.
University Name |
Chapter Number |
Ranking |
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One member of the judging team will then collect the ranking sheets from all members and will total the individual rankings for each chapter to determine the overall ranking by the judging team. The chapter with the lowest total number will be the first place winner; the second lowest number will be the second place winner; etc.
Strengths of the presentation: ___________________________________________________________
Suggested areas for improvement: _______________________________________________________