"That (the number of hits) is not bad considering we have not been heavily promoting the site," said Margono. "Immediately after the launch we had excellent feedback from the committee chairs speaking on the professional literature on the site."

The site, which went live July 24, is a transitional Web site and is a first step in the move toward an Internet portal, "cpa2biz," to be launched this fall. All of cpaweb.org's functionalities will be folded into the portal at that time.

"(The site) is a joint effort between state societies, the District of Columbia, and the AICPA to create a national membership database," said Margono.

In addition to a national database, the site also features InfoBytes, the AICPA's educational service that provides "all-you-can-eat" courses for $95 a year for AICPA members. InfoBytes offers 1,200 hours of training and resources, delivered in one- to two-hour segments.

Members can also pay AICPA dues online and access E-Map (Managing an Accounting Practice), an online reference and toolkit for managing small to midsized firms. E-Map enables users to view and search text, use interactive worksheets, checklists and spreadsheets, and link to external sources for more information.

-- By Antoinette Alexander

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