Launched in Nov. 2001, the "Start here. Go places." CPA student recruitment campaign has achieved impressive results in building awareness and understanding about the profession among high school and college students and changing perceptions of the profession. Following are some statistics as of July 31: more than 400,000 students have responded to the campaign, and nearly 99,000 registered on the campaign’s Web site with more than 80,000 of them opting in to receive more communications from us. In addition, we have more than 46,000 high school leads and over 34,000 college leads.

Now two years into the five-year effort, the recruitment campaign has matured to address the needs of the students and to migrate them closer to pursuing accounting — and later CPA certification. Reaching out to new students who have not yet been exposed to the campaign remains an objective as well.

If the fall campaign is in keeping with past results, this semester’s activities should prove quite promising. Students will be surrounded in their daily activities with posters, ads, direct mail, e-mail, bookmarks, online lead generation and advertising through various relevant partners and — new this year — e-newsletters. All of these materials drive students to the campaign’s Web site, www.startheregoplaces.com. There, students engage in pertinent business and accounting content, compete in business simulation games, and participate in contests and promotions — all designed to keep them involved and motivated to pursue business, accounting and CPA certification.

Just as the program has evolved to move along with students in their education and career continuum, the Web site has evolved to a higher level of maturity. For example, much of the content has been repositioned to address some of the current business and economic issues surrounding the profession and students. Moreover, many new and exciting features have been added to the site, including a personal site assistant that customizes content; job search resources; information about the new computer-based CPA exam; and student business articles.

An online game, "Catch Me If You Can," will expose college students to the importance of accounting and the challenges of forensic accounting. For three weeks starting Nov. 3, participants will be presented with several crime scenarios and offered multiple-choice solutions. After the three weeks, players with scores in the top 20% will be automatically entered in a prize drawing.

What’s more, an online seminar series consisting of 12 interactive lessons is being developed for Feb. 2004 that will teach high school juniors and seniors how various business executives and managers in numerous business arenas use money management and accounting skills to perform their jobs. Information and details on the seminar will follow in an upcoming issue of this newsletter.