CPA2Biz to Offer E-reader Publications and Mobile Apps

CPA2Biz, the American Institute of CPAs’ business unit, will be introducing e-reader publications, a mobile site and mobile apps.

CPA2Biz also plans to launch an AICPA e-reader store by the end of this year, according to CPA2Biz CEO Erik Asgeirsson, who spoke at the AICPA’s Fall Meeting of Council on Wednesday in Phoenix.

The e-reader content will support Apple iPad, Google Android, and Barnes & Noble Nook tablets and may also support the new Kindle Fire tablet. At launch the e-reader will have about 20 to 25 publications such as e-books and that will grow over time. Users will be able to bookmark files and locations, do searches, and access a searchable table of contents.

CPA2Biz is also developing mobile apps for the AICPA. “Apps will be where our greatest focus will be,” said Asgeirsson . “We’re working closely with the AICPA team.” CPA2Biz has already built an app for the Journal of Accountancy that will go live in the coming months, loaded with the past year of JofA magazines.

“Client accounting has changed a lot over the past 20 years,” said Asgeirsson.

He talked about a customer, Steve Chaney from Chaney & Associates, who operates a small firm in Roseville, Calif. Chaney reinvented the firm to take advantage of cloud computing, building it into a million-dollar practice. “For firms, this can be a multimillion-dollar opportunity,” he said.

Asgeirsson also referred to the new CPA.com email service that CPA2Biz announced Monday (see CPA2Biz to Launch Email Service for AICPA Members).

“CPA.com was an asset we wanted for a while,” he said. “We will build a suite of services around CPA.com. The email offering will be coming out by the end of this year.”

Asgeirsson noted that firms need to be more concerned about security and privacy concerns, as some states even have criminal penalties for casually transmitting confidential client information. “It’s critical that communication with clients is done in a secure fashion,” he said.

CPA2Biz launched a learning management system this year that is already supporting several states. “It will be a transforming agent for e-learning and CPE,” said Asgeirsson.

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