AICPA Creates Online Crisis Center Site

The American Institute of CPAs has opened an online Economic Crisis Resource Center with information to help accountants advise their clients, employers, family members and friends on how to cope with the recession.

The site includes tools for minimizing the effects of the recession; webcasts on credit and financing; articles on strategic planning, budgeting and forecasting; and continuing professional education courses on fraud detection and maintaining the public trust.

The site is organized by business categories such as public practice, government, and business and industry, as well as by topics, such as audit, fair value, and financial failure and going concern. The site aggregates content from the AICPA and other sources, including articles, white papers,
webinars and videos.

Other groups, such as the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and WebCPA, have also recently launched financial crisis centers, but the AICPA believes its own site has advantages.

“We’ve taken a look at alternative resources to see what is out there,” said AICPA vice president of member service and operations Victor Velazquez. “We believe this is going to be a leading resource when seen by the public. Our site will have a broader set of offerings and compare very favorably insomuch as we have segments on our site. It’s a robust offering.”

The AICPA also plans to add more features such as podcasts as the site evolves further, based on research on its members’ preferences. For more information, visit http://economy.aicpa.org.