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CPA2Biz Launches Next Generation Web Site

CPA2Biz Inc., one of the 500 largest web merchants in the U.S.* and a subsidiary of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), launches the next generation version of its leading e-commerce site www.cpa2biz.com today. Built on a powerful new web platform, incorporating the latest technology from best-in-class partners, the next generation site will provide users with many new capabilities, beginning with a prominent left-navigation area that allows CPAs to browse by Topic, Job Area and Product Type.

The overarching goal of the re-engineered site was to make it more user-friendly to accounting and finance professionals that have come to rely on it as a critical resource. Customer feedback, industry best practices and extensive usability testing were the key drivers of the new site strategy. The team paid particularly close attention to the feedback they received from CPAs at smaller firms, whose businesses are especially impacted when they can’t find the content and resources they seek quickly and efficiently.

“There’s been over 100 hours of usability testing during the past eighteen months.” noted Melissa Rothchild, VP Marketing Services, CPA2Biz, Inc. “Our user base overwhelmingly values the ability to make informed purchasing decisions quickly,” Rothchild said. Consequently, users will now be presented with point of purchase features that better help them do just that, like the look-inside-the-book feature that allows them to view tables of contents and key page excerpts, video clips to preview CPE courses and search results that include detailed comparison charts.

CPA2Biz’s Silicon Valley based technology team built the next generation site using leading e-commerce applications, with great effort being put into the selection and integration of these different components. The key software building blocks include Escalate for the e-commerce platform, Endeca to power search & dynamic navigation, Coremetrics for analytics, and Scene7 for online catalogs. “Our partners are powering some of the top e-commerce sites out there, and for good reasons,” said Patrick Bonnaure, COO, CPA2Biz Inc., “Our implementation further highlights how effectively these technologies can be interfaced and meshed into a cohesive solution. This will not only benefit our end-users, but will also offer extensive control and flexibility to CPA2Biz’s internal business owners who will manage the content and the services on this platform going forward” said Bonnaure.

The launch of the next generation site coincides with CPA2Biz being named to Internet Retailer’s Guide to Top 500 Retail Web Sites for the second consecutive year.  “The site was serving our customers well,” said Erik Asgeirsson, CEO, CPA2Biz, Inc.  “But features and functionality that seem rich in today’s online world quickly become tomorrow’s standard,” he said.  The new platform promises to help CPA2Biz keep pace with the expanding web-based needs and expectations of the accounting profession.  “We’re well-positioned to adapt as the online medium evolves and accounting and finance professionals become increasingly more web dependent,” concluded Asgeirsson.

*Source:  Internet Retailer June 2007.

CPA2Biz is the marketing and technology subsidiary of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and provides marketing and technology services to the AICPA for its wide array of products and services, such as continuing education, conferences and professional literature. CPA2Biz also develops and manages client-focused business solutions programs (e.g. payroll, banking) that enable CPAs to build stronger relationships with their business clients or employers. For more information, visit www.cpa2biz.com.

Headquartered in New York, CPA2Biz also maintains offices in Santa Clara, CA.

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (www.aicpa.org) is the national, professional association of CPAs, with approximately 330,000 members, including CPAs in business and industry, public practice, government, and education; student affiliates; and international associates. It sets ethical standards for the profession and U.S. auditing standards for audits of private companies; federal, state and local governments; and non-profit organizations. It also develops and grades the Uniform CPA Examination.

Headquartered in New York, the AICPA also maintains offices in Washington, D.C.; Durham, N.C. and Lewisville, TX.

Press Contact Information:

For CPA2Biz, Inc.:
Pamela Johnston
Public Relations Representative
PJ, Inc
212 629-8445
Pamela@pjinc.net