AICPA, CPA2Biz, and Shared Services Limited Liability Company Joint Privacy Policy

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), CPA2Biz, and Shared Services Limited Liability Company (SSLLC) understand how important the protection of your personal information is to you. We are committed to protecting your privacy. We want to make sure you understand how the personal information you provide to us is being used as well as the choices that you have regarding this information. The following policy discloses our procedures surrounding this commitment.

2. ORGANIZATIONAL OVERVIEW

The AICPA is the premier national professional association for CPAs in the United States. Committed to member service and the public interest, the AICPA and its predecessors have been serving the accounting profession since 1887. The AICPA operates a Web domain under the URL http://www.aicpa.org/ and has many Web destinations that link from this Web URL.

CPA2Biz is a separate, for-profit corporation. The AICPA has a partnership with CPA2Biz that calls for CPA2Biz to act as the exclusive online and offline marketing agent for AICPA products and services. In addition, through online and offline activities, CPA2Biz acts as a marketing and distribution agent for other third parties. CPA2Biz also provides marketing and technology services to the AICPA for its wide array of products and services, such as continuing education, conferences, and literature to enhance CPAs' abilities to fulfill their professional needs. The CPA2Biz Web domain (sometimes referred to in this Privacy Policy as the CPA2Biz Site) is under the URL http://www.cpa2biz.com/.

SSLLC is a 50/50 joint venture between the AICPA and the 50 state CPA societies, plus the CPA societies of Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. SSLLC was established in 2000 and is a separate, for-profit, legal entity. SSLLC negotiates agreements with service providers that allow the state CPA societies and the AICPA to reduce aggregate operating costs by securing savings on purchases and/or services by leveraging the collective buying power of its stakeholders and their members. SSLLC activities are conducted both online and offline. Related online activities result from activities connected to strategic sourcing providers. The customers and related parties of SSLLC include the AICPA, CPA2Biz, and the state CPA societies (henceforth referred to as the Entities).

The AICPA, CPA2Biz and SSLLC are henceforth called the Organizations.

On December 1, 2003, the AICPA launched Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Human Resources Management System (HRMS) systems; hosted by a third-party hosting and application support provider. The member and other database information stored in the ERP, CRM and HRMS system can be collected and viewed by the AICPA and CPA2Biz..

Any changes made to your personal information either offline or online at http://www.aicpa.org/ or http://www.cpa2biz.com/ and entered into the ERP, CRM and HRMS system is viewable by the AICPA and CPA2Biz.

3. SCOPE OF POLICY

This Privacy Policy governs the privacy practices used by the Organizations on their Web sites (referred to herein after as the Sites and listed at the end of this policy) as well as their offline data collection, use, and disclosure activities. The Organizations maintain high standards for the protection and privacy of users of their Sites as well as for those that have offline interactions with the Organizations. Please read this Privacy Policy carefully as it states how we may collect, use, and disclose personal information about you. Please also read the Terms and Conditions governing your use of the Sites.

The Sites may contain links to Web sites not under the Organizations' control and managed by third parties with independent information and privacy practices. We strive to protect your information and suggest you read the privacy policies of the site to which you are redirected before supplying any personal information. In addition, we may have no control over information that is submitted to, or collected by, these third parties. Accordingly, you should consult these other Web sites' privacy policies when accessing or using such other Web pages.

Changes to this Privacy Policy:

This Privacy Policy is subject to change to adjust to business needs. Whenever there are changes, the modified Privacy Policy will be posted on the Sites and will be effective at that time. Accordingly, it is recommended that you regularly check the Sites for updates to this Privacy Policy; we will provide a version number and date at the top of the document for your convenience. At the time we post an updated Privacy Policy on the Site, we will also post a conspicuous notice on the Site notifying you of the change. If the change is not acceptable to you, you should communicate your concerns using the points of contact identified below; however, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to accommodate your concerns. If the changes to the Site or our accommodations are not amenable to you, consideration of discontinuance of use of the Web sites is recommended.

4. COLLECTION OF INFORMATION

By the AICPA:

The AICPA may gather some personal identifiable information from you in both our online and offline processes when it is voluntarily submitted by you. The types of information collected may include but are not limited to your name, e-mail address, phone number, credit card number and billing address, and residential and business postal addresses.

The AICPA collects information online in the following ways:

Upon registration as a user on our Web sites
Upon registration for a conference
During peer review enrollment
From peer review resume information
From award nominations
Upon joining/enrolling as a member of the AICPA or one of our special interest programs, including our Centers and Forums
Upon completion of our application
Upon completion of our online surveys
Through e-mail communications, including communications you originate from the "Contact Us" page
Upon payment of dues
When updating personal information
Through examination and credentialing processes

Automatic Collection. In the course of providing you with the services you find on our Sites, our Web and application server will automatically collect usage-related information, including the URLs that you access through our Site, the date and time of your usage, your Internet protocol (IP) address, your Internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, platform type, date/time stamp, number of clicks, and your browser type. We collect this information so we can perform effective capacity planning, administer the Site, troubleshoot Web site performance, track users' movements in the aggregate, gather demographic information for aggregate use, and accurately document revenue-generating transactions for our business partners. We use a tracking utility that uses log files to analyze user movement.

The AICPA collects information offline in the following ways:

Upon joining/enrolling as a member of the AICPA or one of our special interest programs, including our Centers
When updating member information
Upon purchase of products or services through the AICPA Service Center Operations
During peer review enrollment
From award nominations
When accepting and processing applications
From professors and students who are not members (from the Accounting Education Center)
From conference registrants
Via trade show vendor contacts in exhibit sales
Receipt of editorial work submitted to the Journal of Accountancy and other AICPA publications
When engaging authors, developing publications, and producing videos
From vendors, contractors, and others
From volunteers
From technical hotline inquiries
From scholarship and fellowship application forms
From other various applications and forms
From benevolent fund and AICPA Foundation applications for funds
From instructors
From the NASBA and state boards
From CPE forms
From examination and credentialing processes
From purchased lists

By CPA2Biz:

Automatic Collection. In the course of providing you with the services on the Site, our Web and application server will automatically collect usage-related information, including the URLs that you access through our Site, the date and time of your usage, your Internet protocol (IP) address, your Internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, platform type, date/time stamp, number of clicks, and your browser type. We collect this information so we can perform effective capacity planning, administer the Site, troubleshoot Web site performance, track users' movements in the aggregate, gather demographic information for aggregate use, and accurately document revenue-generating transactions for our business partners. We use a tracking utility that uses log files to analyze user movement.

In addition, we may ask for, or you may elect on your own initiative to provide us with, personal or professional information in connection with the following online and offline activities, including when you:

Register to use the Site. (Not all areas of the Site require you to register to use them.)
Place an order for an AICPA product or a product of another third party
Complete a survey
Enter a contest
Send us an e-mail
Enroll in a Business Solutions program
Sign up to attend a Webcast or information session
Fill out an online form requesting information or asking to be contacted
Register on the AICPA Career Center site
Contact us by phone, fax, or mail
Apply for employment
Provide updated information
Attend a conference

The minimum information you need to provide to complete any specific transaction or access any particular area of the Site is noted on the Web pages. You will be unable to place an order or complete a registration without providing this minimum information. It is optional for you to provide other information, but doing so will allow us to provide a more personalized experience for you on the Site.

By SSLLC:

SSLLC does not collect personal information; it acts as a service provider for the strategic sourcing initiatives on behalf of the AICPA, CPA2Biz, and state CPA societies.

5. USE OF INFORMATION

By the AICPA :

All personally identifiable information obtained from you is treated with great care to protect your privacy and security. Except as discussed in Section 6, management authorizes only trained and qualified employees, committee members, agents performing duties on behalf of the AICPA, and contractors to access the information you choose to provide. Your personal information may be used to:

Build quality and useful services by analyzing user trends and by measuring demographics and interests
Communicate with you about your account or the Sites
Communicate member violations and sanctions
Communicate your membership in particular programs to others
Schedule peer reviews
Develop various member listings
Develop referral listings for specialty membership areas
Do research
Maintain various records, such as CPE-related records
Personalize various aspects of the Site
Pre-populate online forms for your convenience
Provide you with prompt and effective service
Send you newsletters
Support the operation of the Site (for example, billing, account maintenance, and troubleshooting [such as access for the user])

Your personal information may also be used in other ways that you either imply or expressly give consent to or instruct us to undertake.

We do not currently sell e-mail addresses to any third party. On our behalf, CPA2Biz does rent mailing address lists for one-time use per list purchase only to companies and organizations that offer products or services of interest to CPAs, other accountants, and business and financial executives. The products or services offered by the renter in the mail campaign must be relevant to a business environment.

Should you choose to inquire about an employment opportunity at the AICPA through our online employment application, your contact information and/or resume will be used by the Human Resources Team as well as the hiring team interviewer in considering you for the specified employment opportunity. All information received for this purpose will be kept confidential.

By CPA2Biz:

All personally identifiable information obtained from you (personally identifiable information is information about you such as name, postal address, e-mail address, company name, credit card number and billing address, and birth date) is treated with great care in order to protect your privacy and security. Management authorizes only trained and qualified employees, agents performing duties on behalf of CPA2Biz, and contractors to access the information you choose to provide. Your personal information may be used to:

Build quality and useful services by analyzing user trends and by measuring demographics and interests
Communicate with you about your account or the Site
Personalize various aspects of the Site
Pre-populate online forms for your convenience and validation
Provide you with prompt and effective service
Send you newsletters, promotional messages, product announcements, or other communications we believe may be of interest to you, although you may opt out of receiving these communications (see the section "Opting Out")
Support the operation of the Site (for example, billing and account maintenance) and troubleshoot

Your personal information may be used in other ways that you either consent to or instruct us to undertake.

Information volunteered by you in relation to an online survey and/or Site registrations is kept confidential and is not used for purposes outside of the intent of the survey or registration form.

Should you choose to inquire about an employment opportunity at CPA2Biz, your contact information and/or resume will only be used by the Human Resources department as well as the hiring department interviewer in considering you for the specified employment opportunity. All information received for this purpose will be kept confidential.

6. DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION

By the AICPA:

It is our commitment that your personal information is disclosed only to third parties to the extent needed to deliver a business-related service or program or in compliance with AICPA bylaws. Vendors are prohibited from using this information for any purpose outside of the scope of the prescribed activities. Third parties with whom we may share selected personal information include but are not limited to:

Affinity partners
Our auditors
Building security (when you attend meetings in our offices)
Conference attendees (for the conference you are registered for)
Expert panels
Fellow committee members
Mailing and fulfillment houses
Individuals accessing the peer review public file, firm search, and resume search
Individuals accessing our Centers, including but not limited to the Employee Benefit Plan Audit Quality Center, Governmental Audit Quality Center, Accounting Education Center, the Audit Committee Matching System, and the Center for Audit Quality
Individuals accessing the specialty member referral sites
State CPA societies and NASBA (“National Associations of State Boards of Accountancy”)
Third-party vendors
XBRL International
Other participants when it is an inherent function of the Site you use, such as posting to a discussion area where your e-mail address automatically appears or as permitted under the privacy policy, terms and conditions of the site
Such other third parties as permitted or required by law

Your information may be shared to:

Communicate with and reach out to members and potential members and to provide information to the public as to significant AICPA activities
Verify that you are a member of the AICPA and the society of state in which you are licensed
Complete conference registrations and distribute related materials
Complete orders
Complete the mailing process for periodicals and publications
Complete various internal and externally based audits
Maintain AICPA membership in the NASBA Quality Assurance service
Promote scholarships
Provide you with services, programs, and materials
Promote you or your firm through a specialty referral program
Provide a vehicle for companies to obtain an audit committee member
Respond to technical accounting and auditing questions
Send catalogs
Send dues bills
Send you communications that we believe may be of interest to you, although you may opt out of receiving these communications (see the section "Opting Out")

Your information may be shared in other ways that you either consent to or instruct us to undertake.

The AICPA shares information collected about its members and nonmembers, either as a result of your use of the Site or otherwise, with CPA2Biz and SSLLC.

Other types of disclosures include the following which may be made without asking for explicit consent from you, include but are not limited to the following:

If you volunteer on an AICPA committee, your name, committee you are involved with, and city/state are visible on an unrestricted area of http://volunteers.aicpa.org/.
On rare occasions, we may disclose your personal information pursuant to lawful requests or as authorized by applicable laws.
Certain other disclosures, such as those connected to AICPA enforcement proceedings, are required or authorized pursuant to AICPA bylaws and resolutions of AICPA Council. As a condition of AICPA membership, you have consented to comply with the bylaws, including those relevant to disciplinary actions

By CPA2Biz:

We may disclose personally identifiable information about you to third parties as follows:

Without asking for explicit consent from you:

CPA2Biz will perform research on our end users' demographics, interests, and behavior based on the information we collect, for example, during registration, from our server log files, and from user surveys. CPA2Biz does this to better understand and serve users. This research is compiled and analyzed on an aggregated basis.
If you are a member of the AICPA, CPA2Biz shares all the information collected about you, either as a result of your use of the Site or otherwise, with the AICPA and SSLLC. CPA2Biz will not disclose this information to any third parties unless the third party enters into a confidentiality agreement with CPA2Biz. CPA2Biz requires the AICPA not to disclose this information to any third parties without CPA2Biz's consent, unless:
1. The AICPA does not disclose any individually identifiable purchase information or any personally identifying information about the member;
2. The third party enters into a confidentiality agreement with the AICPA; or
3. The AICPA assumes responsibility for operation of the Site from CPA2Biz and disclosure is required in order to operate the Site.
If you are not a member of the AICPA, CPA2Biz will share with the AICPA and SSLLC all the information we collect in connection with the sale to you of any product sold on the portion of this Site targeted to CPAs. In addition, CPA2Biz will transmit your User ID to the AICPA so, in the future, if you elect to become a member of the AICPA, your User ID on the CPA2Biz Site will be available to you for use as a User ID on the AICPA Web site. CPA2Biz requires the AICPA not to disclose this information to any third parties without CPA2Biz's consent, unless:
1. The third party enters into a confidentiality agreement with the AICPA; or
2. The AICPA assumes responsibility for operation of the Site from CPA2Biz and disclosure is required in order to operate the Site.
CPA2Biz and the AICPA share Email and Web site usage information about visitors to the Site who have received a targeted e-mail promotional campaign from us with a third-party advertising company, Epsilon Interactive, for the sole purpose of targeting future e-mail campaigns and upgrading visitor information used in reporting statistics. For this purpose, CPA2Biz and Epsilon Interactive track some of the pages you visit on our Web site through the use of pixel tags (also called clear gifs). This information is not shared with any third parties other than Epsilon Interactive.
CPA2Biz allows third parties to provide Site features and services. These third parties are prohibited from using personally identifiable information except for the purpose of providing these services.
Our contractors, consultants, and professional advisers provide a service to us. For example, from time to time CPA2Biz may use third parties to help us collect information about our users. In those cases, CPA2Biz would prohibit the third parties from using the information they collect for any purpose other than providing the service to us.
CPA2Biz will disclose personally identifiable information as we believe necessary to comply with the law and protect the rights, property, or safety of others.
CCPA2Biz will disclose personally identifiable information in order to respond to a subpoena, warrant, or other court order.
CPA2Biz will disclose personally identifiable information with the acquiring party or transferee in connection with the sale or transfer of CPA2Biz or substantially all its assets.
CPA2Biz may disclose personally identifiable information due to circumstances beyond our control.

With your consent:
1. To facilitate a transaction or communication with a third party that you initiate. For example, we will provide your information, including credit card information, to the third parties from whom you purchase services through this Site. Those parties' use of your information is subject to their privacy practices and agreement with you.
2. When it is inherent in the function you use on the Site, such as posting to a discussion area where your e-mail address automatically appears.
Supplementing of Information:
To provide better service to you on the Site, we may conclude it is necessary for us to supplement the information you provide us with information from third-party sources, which would require disclosure of your personally identifiable information to such third parties.
1. If, when you register, you tell us that you are an AICPA member, we will verify that fact with membership information provided to us by the AICPA.
2. We may, from time to time, purchase third-party marketing data and add it to our existing user database to better target our advertising and provide pertinent offers we think our users would be interested in. We might use this information to enhance or overlay the "profile" of individual users, linking the supplemental information with your personally identifiable information.

AICPA members should understand that CPA2Biz acts as the AICPA's agent in a number of capacities that are governed by these privacy practices. For example, CPA2Biz may act as the AICPA's agent in the rental of certain member information to third parties. The rental is governed by the AICPA's privacy procedures, if different from those of CPA2Biz. Similarly, CPA2Biz may transmit to certain affinity partners of the AICPA certain information provided to it by the AICPA which may overlap with personal information you have also provided to CPA2Biz directly. This information would be shared with affinity partners of the AICPA so they can provide you with special offers. The transmission of this data to the affinity partners is subject to the AICPA's privacy practices as well.

The AICPA is able to view all the information collected about you in connection with the sale to you of any product sold on the portion of this Site targeted to CPAs. This includes transmission of your User ID to the AICPA so, in the future, if you elect to become a member of the AICPA, your User ID on the CPA2Biz Site will be available to you for use as a User ID on the AICPA Web site.

We do not currently sell e-mail addresses to any third party. Consistent with the AICPA’s historical practice, we do rent mailing address lists for one-time use per list purchase only to companies and organizations that offer products or services of interest to CPAs, other accountants, and business and financial executives. The products or services offered in the mail campaign must be relevant to a business environment.

CPA2Biz shares information it collects, either as a result of your use of the Site or otherwise, with the AICPA.

7. SECURITY

The Organizations are committed to maintaining the security of information under our control. To safeguard and secure the information we collect, we have put in place appropriate physical and logical security procedures and controls; however, this should not be construed as a guarantee of absolute security.

Our staffs are trained to treat information with the utmost confidentiality. Internally, we restrict access to personal information to employees and contractors and agents who need access to the information to do their jobs or perform services on behalf of the AICPA, CPA2Biz, and SSLLC. These employees and contractors are committed to our privacy and security policies. Should you believe there has been a breach in our Privacy Policy or the security of our Sites, please contact us at the appropriate telephone number, e-mail address, or mailing address listed below.

We exercise great care to secure confidential personally identifiable information on our Sites. Only authorized personnel are permitted access to this information.

Use of these Sites, with respect to privacy, is covered by binding arbitration. Users of the Sites are encouraged to report any suspected breach of privacy or site security to our Service Center Operations Team at the telephone number, e-mail address, or mailing address indicated at the bottom of this page. All reports of suspected breaches will be followed up. The suspected breach will be investigated by staff familiar with the related security operations. Any controversy or claim related to privacy that cannot be settled to your satisfaction shall be settled by arbitration in New York, New York. Such disputes will be administered by the American Arbitration Association, http://www.adr.org/, 335 Madison Avenue, 10th floor, New York, New York 10017-4605, (800) 778-7879, in accordance with its arbitration rules, and judgment upon the award rendered by the arbitrator(s) may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof.

Restricted Access

Some areas of the AICPA Web sites are password-protected for specific user groups, such as subscribers to a particular publication. Use of the various AICPA sites is subject to the policies, terms and conditions found on those sites.

Cookies

The Sites use cookies to monitor Site usage, advertisement viewing, and performance and to personalize the content of various areas within the Web sites.

8. CHOICE AND CONSENT

Opting Out

If you supply the Organizations with your postal address, phone number, or e-mail address, you may receive periodic communications from the Organizations or other reputable companies affiliated with the Organizations. The communications will provide information on available services or upcoming events.

If you do not wish to receive such communications from the Organizations or from the reputable companies affiliated with the Organizations, you can opt out of receiving them by contacting us at privacy@aicpa.org or by calling (888) 777-7077 and pressing option 9. You can also opt out of receiving future e-mail messages by following the "unsubscribe" instructions at the bottom of any e-mailed message you receive. In addition, when you join the AICPA, you have the ability to opt out of being on the e-mail lists rented to third parties via completion of your member profile.

Please allow at least 60 days for your opt-out election to take effect.

In addition, you can opt out of receiving future e-mailed messages or newsletters from CPA2Biz by changing your preferences on the http://www.cpa2biz.com/ "Communication Preferences" page, which is located in the "My Profile" section of the "My Account" tab on the Site.

9. QUALITY

Checking Your Data on File With the Organizations

Individuals are responsible for providing accurate and complete personal information, and for contacting us if correction of such information is required.

AICPA members can request access to the membership information the Organizations have collected on them or have factual inaccuracies in this information corrected by contacting us at privacy@aicpa.org or calling (888) 777-7077 and pressing option number 9. In addition, users of http://www.aicpa.org/ and http://www.cpa2biz.com/ can also request the information that the Organizations have collected about them by contacting us in the same manner.

10. CONTACT US

Contact the AICPA, CPA2Biz, and SSLLC if you:

Have any questions about our Organizations
Have any questions about our Privacy Policy statement or our practices on the Sites
Would like to report a privacy or security concern
Would like to make an opt-out election
Would like to access your personal information or to make any corrections to your personal information

Please contact:

privacy@aicpa.org

or call (888) 777-7077 and press option number 9

11. LISTING OF SITES GOVERNED BY THIS POLICY

http://www.aicpa.org/ and its Centers
http://www.aicpastore.com/
http://www.360financialliteracy.org/
http://www.aicpalearning.org/
http://conferences.aicpa.org/materials/index.htm
http://www.cpa2biz.com/
http://www.cpa2bizcareers.com/
http://peerreview.aicpaservices.org/
http://www.webtrust.org/