A financial literacy program organized by Bradley’s chapter of Beta Alpha Psi, an honorary group for accounting majors, will offer help to campus organizations starting in early March.
According to a Beta Alpha Psi survey of about 30 people, 55 percent of responding campus organizations think their financial structures are non-existent or need improvement, and 66 percent are interested in becoming more financially literate.
“We sent out the survey, and the response was, ‘We need some help,'” Beta Alpha Psi advisor Simon Petravick said. “Student organizations need financial literacy just like individuals do.”
According to Petravick, when organizations have a person unfamiliar with accounting working as treasurer, finances can get messy, so Beta Alpha Psi will train organization representatives to use QuickBooks.
“QuickBooks is an accounting program designed for people without an accounting background,” Petravik said.
With QuickBooks, users can keep track of cash receipts, reconcile bank statements and record budgets.
“QuickBooks gives an easy way to keep track of everything,” Petravick said. “It’ll do the math for you and tell you if you have more [money] coming in or more going out.”
Students are able to access QuickBooks in the Baker Hall computer lab. However, Petravick said he hopes to gain more accessibility for the software if the financial literacy program is popular.
“If you wanted the convenience of [using QuickBooks] in your house, it would be a couple hundred dollar investment, so we are going to see if we can get it on another campus location like the library,” Petravik said.
Beta Alpha Psi created the program to be entered in the financial literacy category of an international competition, Best Practices.
Four students will travel to Indianapolis at the end of March to present the details and results of the program at a regional meeting. About 25 schools are expected to compete, with eight winners moving on to nationals.
“It’s nice if [we] win, but I think either way, we are doing a good service project,” Petravick said. “I also think for our accounting students, to say [they] got to make a presentation at a regional meeting is a nice way to show [their] involvement in an organization, even if [they don’t] place. If we do place, then that’s a bonus.”
Senior accounting major Becca Markham, one of the four students traveling to Indianapolis, said Beta Alpha Psi was able to make the final touches on the program after receiving the responses from the survey.
“I think the program will be very successful,” Markham said. “QuickBooks is used by many small businesses and is a helpful tool for anyone to learn.”
The training sessions will last for an hour and a half and are March 2 at 3 p.m. and March 3 at 4:30 p.m.
