American Institute of Certified Public Accountants

AICPA Mission

The Fundamental Purpose of the AICPA

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants is the national, professional organization for all Certified Public Accountants. Its mission is to provide members with the resources, information, and leadership that enable them to provide valuable services in the highest professional manner to benefit the public as well as employers and clients.

In fulfilling its mission, the AICPA works with state CPA organizations and gives priority to those areas where public reliance on CPA skills is most significant.

AICPA OBJECTIVES

(The major areas of activity to pursue in carrying out the Institute's mission.)

To achieve its mission, the Institute:

A. Advocacy

Serves as the national representative of CPAs before governments, regulatory bodies and other organizations in protecting and promoting members' interests.

B. Certification and Licensing

Seeks the highest possible level of uniform certification and licensing standards and promotes and protects the CPA designation.

C. Communications

Promotes public awareness and confidence in the integrity, objectivity, competence and professionalism of CPAs and monitors the needs and views of CPAs.

D. Recruiting and Education

Encourages highly qualified individuals to become CPAs and supports the development of outstanding academic programs.

E. Standards and Performance

Establishes professional standards; assist members in continually improving their professional conduct, performance and expertise; and monitors such performance to enforce current standards and requirements.

Note: The Mission Statement was revised by the Strategic Planning Committee and approved by the Board of Directors in November 1995.

AICPA Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2009-2011

The AICPA Strategic Plan was developed in collaboration with the AICPA Board of Directors, senior management, the strategic planning committee, volunteer leadership, state societies, and staff. It reflects a comprehensive assessment of the social, economic, technological, political, and regulatory forces affecting the profession today and driving change for the future. As a blueprint for success, the plan underscores the Institute’s commitment to enhancing resources, information, and leadership to help CPAs provide valuable services that benefit the public, employers, and clients.

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Bisk Education: CPA Exam Review & CPE for CPAs

About Bisk Education

Nathan M. Bisk JD, CPA (FL) founded Bisk Education in 1971 as a provider of continuing education programs for working professionals. Since its inception, Bisk Education has grown to become the nation’s largest exclusive facilitator of online degree and certificate programs from the nation’s leading universities, offering end-to-end, lifelong-learning solutions that allow working adults to reach their personal and professional goals through education.

Online Degree & Certificate Programs

University Alliance Online

Bisk Education’s University Alliance (UA) division facilitates the promotion and online delivery of associate’s, bachelor’s and master’s degrees as well as professional certificate programs from the nation’s leading traditional universities and institutions. Powered by UA’s technology and support services, our university partners have surpassed 300,000 online enrollments – making UA the largest facilitator of e-learning in the country. University Alliance partners include Villanova University, the University of Notre Dame, Tulane University, Thunderbird School of Global Management, the University of San Francisco, the University of South Florida, Florida Institute of Technology, The University of Scranton, Dominican University and Jacksonville University. Our record of success is second to none, with satisfied clients including individuals, small businesses and Fortune 500 companies. Since courses are available anywhere in the world, 24/7, students can prepare for today’s most in-demand careers wherever and whenever it’s most convenient. Visit us at www.UniversityAlliance.com.

For our corporate clients, Bisk Education offers the convenience of a single source for all of their educational needs. One contact provides seamless access to hundreds of university courses, enrollment assistance, marketing, technical support, books and materials, and a dedicated program representative for personalized attention. Through state-of-the-art technology and programs featuring industry experts, you’ll see increased workforce productivity as we fulfill your professional and executive educational needs. Whether it’s earning a bachelor’s or master’s degree, professional certification or continuing education requirements, your employees will be armed with the right tools, skills and knowledge to accelerate performance, enhance development and grow your business.

Continuing Education & Test Preparation

Bisk CPEasy

America’s best-selling CPE programs for public and industry CPAs, CPEasy allows accounting professionals to meet mandatory reporting requirements quickly and conveniently, while gaining knowledge that will help them excel in their profession. CPEasy offers thousands of CPE credits and hundreds of accounting topics form one source: www.CPEasy.com. Our continuing professional education programs come in a variety of formats, including online multimedia presentations, video, audio and CD-ROM.

Bisk CPA Review

America’s best CPA review since 1971, CPA Ready offers everything you need to pass the CPA exam the first time – guaranteed! From instructor-led online reviews to independent self-study programs on CD-ROM, video, audio and text, our interrelated products ensure maximum information retention no matter what your learning style. Our CPA review is used by individuals employed at accounting firms and in industry. See our complete product line at www.CPAexam.com.

Excellence in Corporate Governance Online

Bisk Education has teamed with Tulane Law School to bring you the industry’s premier professional credential. Excellence in Corporate Governance Online. Log on to www.CorpGovOnline.com for a comprehensive, yet convenient program that segments the big picture of corporate responsibility into easy-to-follow concepts and best practices. You’ll learn which areas you and your organization need to be more vigilant in to ensure compliance with the latest government regulations including Sarbanes-Oxley.

The Company

Bisk Education produces nationally acclaimed multimedia and web-based study programs and educational products from its company-owned 100,000-square-foot national headquarters situated on a 10-acre campus in beautiful Tampa, Florida. The company has developed a proprietary online Learning Management System (LMS) and e-learning technology which is the common element for all programs, providing anytime, anywhere, 24/7 online learning.

The LMS features streaming video lectures and an extensive array of synchronous and asynchronous communication tools for better-than-live classroom interaction and an optimum learning experience. Through this powerful and scalable LMS technology, Bisk gives students the ability to obtain an associate’s, bachelor’s or master’s degree, or simply take a single course or a master certificate program in an area of interest, all at a time and place they choose. The program is also highly customizable, giving the university and instructor the tools to establish the optimum learning environment.

Bisk does not rely on any outside contractors or consultants, as we are totally self-contained. Our in-house technology group consists of web developers, software engineers, network administrators, R&D engineers, educational course designers and technical writers who ensure the quality of each step of the process. In addition, we have complete state-of-the-art video production and audio recording studios. The studios are used to record the lectures of our associate’s faculty members when developing a course. We then digitize and compress this video into a format for streaming over the Internet. Our tools and expertise allow us to capture and compress the streaming audio and video files to deliver higher quality media at lower bit rates.

Bisk Education is the only facilitator of online degree programs designated as a Microsoft® Certified Solution Provider. As such, we collaborate with Microsoft® to solve business challenges in education. We have earned this designation by employing Microsoft® Certified Professionals on our software development team and by using Microsoft® products as the building blocks for the various services we provide. Bisk ensures reliability and compatibility with all industry standard computer products and our online classroom is compatible with all current versions of Windows computers.

In addition, all web-based systems are monitored and supported 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Bisk also partners with the leading web-caching provider for optimum delivery and performance of online streaming video and audio content. In addition, the Bisk web servers are operated in a dual-live environment. Bisk partners with the leading co-location provider whose systems are built to Department of Defense standards, to provide redundancy for uninterrupted availability of the company’s websites.

Nathan M. Bisk, JD, CPA
Founder and Chairman

Nathan M. Bisk, founder and chairman of Bisk Education, Inc., was the first to provide distance education programs to CPAs and other working adults. In addition, Mr. Bisk has made degree and professional education certificate programs from accredited universities available to working adults worldwide via the Internet. Mr. Bisk is both an attorney and CPA in the state of Florida. A graduate of Franklin & Marshall College and the University of Florida College of Law, he is a member of the following organizations:

Florida Institute of CPAs
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
Association of Government Accountants
American Association of Attorneys – CPAs
Florida Bar Association
American Bar Association

Mr. Bisk’s background includes public accounting experience at Ernst & Young and Arthur Andersen; He’s practiced corporate law in Florida since 1973. He is a graduate of the two-year JET program at Merrill Lynch. In addition, he serves as a member of the Board of Governors at Nova Southeastern University’s Shepard Broad Law Center.

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KPMG International

Who we are

With a worldwide presence, KPMG continues to build on our member firms' successes thanks to clear vision, rigorously maintained values and, above all, its people. The following pages describe who we are, what we do and how we do it.

About KPMG KPMG operates as an international network of member firms offering audit, tax and advisory services. We work closely with our clients, helping them to mitigate risks and grasp opportunities.

Values and culture Our network of member firms in over 140 countries worldwide share the same values. What are they and why do they work? Our reputation is created by the way the people within our member firms act with clients, colleagues and their communities.

Corporate citizenship Putting our skills to work Citizenship is embedded in the KPMG values and we recognize our firms have the scale, influence and business knowledge to make a significant and positive contribution to the issues that affect our communities and environments. Find out more about our Corporate Citizenship strategy and how we are putting our skills to work.

Organization KPMG firms are some of the world’s leading providers of audit, tax and advisory services. We have more than 135,000 people operating in over 140 countries worldwide.

• Performance

Combined revenues for KPMG member firms increased to U.S. $22.69 billion for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2008, versus U.S. $19.81 billion for the prior fiscal year, reflecting double-digit growth across all service lines.

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Global solutions to global problems

Ernst & Young is a global leader in Assurance, Tax, Transactions and Advisory services. We aim to have a positive impact on businesses and markets, as well as on society as a whole.

Fast access to our global network
Our 135,000 people are the foundation of our success. We assemble the right multi-disciplinary team for your business, drawing on our global talent pool, to help you achieve your potential. We work closely with you, gaining a clear understanding of your organization and striving to identify issues before they become problems. We make sure you get fast access to the people you need, wherever in the world you need them. And with our global focus on 14 Global Industry Sectors you benefit from a market-leading global response to your specific needs.

Developing our people, to the benefit of your business
We attract talented people from diverse backgrounds. Our emphasis on inclusiveness matters more than ever today. As business challenges become more complex, we need to call upon the widest spectrum of views and opinions to address them. Our open culture fosters continuous personal and professional development. Because when our people grow and succeed, your company benefits.

Making a difference in a changing world
Business, government and NGOs are increasingly pulling together to promote business, social and environmental progress. Ernst & Young contributes to this effort through skill-based volunteering that’s coordinated globally while taking account of local conditions and culture. We channel our efforts into three key areas that are aligned with our business strategy and critical to improving and expanding market economies: entrepreneurship, education and environmental sustainability.

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