Victoria Simpkins ’19, Susan Anderson receive honors at Beta Alpha Psi meeting

Accounting major Victoria Simpkins ’19 and Professor of Accounting Susan Anderson were recently recognized at the 2018 Beta Alpha Psi (BAP) annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

Simpkins, who serves as president of Elon’s BAP chapter, was a member of the first-place team in the Project Run With It (PRWI) competition, which exposes students to a real-world consulting project. Eighteen teams of four students from different universities developed and presented solutions to real-life business problems of actual not-for-profit (NFP) organizations located in the greater Washington, D.C. area.

“Participating in PRWI allowed me to briefly examine the current problems facing state CPA associations as I was tasked with finding solutions specifically for the Maryland Association of CPAs,” Simpkins said. “It was a great experience to work with students who will affect the accounting profession all over the country and internationally.”

Simpkins, along with McKenna Patterson ’20, Isabella Santelia ’20 and Rebecca Roberts ’19, also presented a chapter operations session on the role of the secretary. The Elon group was accompanied by Patty Cox, assistant professor of accounting and faculty advisor for Elon BAP.

During the meeting’s awards ceremony, Anderson received the Business Information Professional of the Year award in the education category. After an introduction by former Elon BAP president Kristen Bellini ’18, Anderson encouraged the more than 1,500 students in attendance to seek opportunities to serve in their communities by using their accounting skills.

In addition to the meeting’s networking and educational sessions, the group participated in the BAP International Day of Literacy, involving distributing books to local organizations in under-served neighborhoods, as well as teaching the importance of literacy.