About the Chapter
Chartered in 1939, and still the same standard.
Beta Alpha Psi is an international honor organization for financial information students and professionals. Phi Chapter is its home at LSU.
Beta Alpha Psi was founded in 1919 at the University of Illinois, at a moment when accounting was still arguing for its standing as a profession. Twenty years later, in 1939, Louisiana State University chartered the Phi Chapter — placing LSU among the earlier institutions to hold a charter, and giving Louisiana students a direct line into a national professional network.
87 years later the mission has not moved. Membership is an academic distinction, not a social one: it is extended to students who meet a national standard and then choose to spend their semesters in front of practicing professionals, in service to the community, and accountable to each other.
What members carry out is less the line on a resume than the network behind it — the alumni who answer the phone, the recruiter who remembers a question asked at a meeting three years earlier.
87
Years at Louisiana State
1919
Organization founded
The Semester
What a semester looks like
Professional meetings
Firms come to us. Practicing accountants from Big 4 offices, regional firms, industry, and government walk members through what the work actually looks like, then stay to answer questions. This is where most members meet the recruiter who eventually hires them. Every meeting is catered — a large share of chapter dues goes straight into feeding the room.
Firm panels
Recruiters and practitioners from several firms at once, working through what students actually need answered: what to expect in an interview, what firms are looking for, how to handle multiple offers, and which soft and hard skills carry you further once you are in the door.
Community service
Chapter-organized volunteer work across Baton Rouge, including tax assistance for families who could not otherwise afford a preparer — the clearest expression of what an accounting education is for.
Initiation banquet
Each semester closes with a banquet welcoming the new initiate class alongside faculty and our named sponsors. New members are recognized, the outgoing officer team hands off, and the chapter marks the end of the term together.
Membership Standards
The bar is public, and it does not move.
Every requirement below comes from the national organization or the chapter constitution. Candidates who meet them are initiated; the standard is the same for everyone, every term.
- Academic standing
- Minimum 3.0 GPA, maintained each term
- Coursework
- Enrolled in Intermediate Accounting I or beyond
- Major
- Accounting, Finance, or Information Systems
- Professional meetings
- Attend the required number each semester
- Service hours
- Complete chapter-organized volunteer work
- Dues
- National and chapter dues, paid to be initiated
Faculty & the Department
Phi Chapter operates under the E.J. Ourso College of Business with a faculty advisor who approves chapter budget, branding, and major decisions.
Faculty who would like to refer a student, or departments interested in co-hosting an event, can reach the officer team directly.
Contact the Chapter