AICPA Inks Licensing Agreement With SysTrust-sm Services Corporation To Deliver SysTrust Assurance Service Through Web Interface.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 15, 2001

SSC Will Provide Web-based Diagnostic Tools to Streamline Systems

Reliability Examination Process for CPAs and Their Clients

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) announced today that it has signed a non-exclusive, licensing agreement with SysTrust Services Corporation (SSC), a technology company based in Denver, Colorado.

SSC, which can be found online at www.systrustservices.com, will offer proprietary Web-based diagnostic tools that support CPAs delivering SysTrust engagements to clients. The proprietary technology developed by SSC will generate online working papers for the CPA to use with their client. Because this front-end work is done online in an efficient, easy-to-use manner, it helps streamline the examination process of the system so that both the CPA and the system owner have a better understanding of areas that may need improvement to comply with the SysTrust standards.

SysTrust was developed by the AICPA as an assurance service to independently verify the reliability of a particular system against a framework of standards. Providing a benchmark for what makes a system reliable, SysTrust is designed to increase the comfort of management, customers and business partners with the systems that support a business or a particular activity. SysTrust defines a reliable system as one that is capable of operating without material error, fault or failure during a specified period in a specified environment. SSC will incorporate the SysTrust standards in its Web-based tools. These standards cover the following areas of a system: Availability, Security, Integrity and Maintainability.

"With the increasing impact and reliance of information technology on business decision-making, it is essential to have assurance of the reliability of computer systems," said Anthony Pugliese, Vice President of Member Innovation at the AICPA. "SysTrust Services Corporation provides one set of tools to help local CPA firms simplify the technology audit process by performing a lot of the front-end work necessary to get company systems up to the SysTrust standard and to ultimately receive the coveted, signed opinion of the independent auditor."

"SysTrust Services Corporation has developed its business to assist CPAs in reviewing and assessing the reliability of any given system," said Richard Oppenheim, CEO of SysTrust Services Corporation. " We leverage a Web interface with our proprietary diagnostic tools to streamline this process and bring together CPAs and system owners seeking independent verification that their systems are reliable."

Taking advantage of efficiencies in marketing over the Internet, SSC offers CPAs a cost-effective, specialized software tool designed to reduce time and delivery obstacles to assurance services engagements by creating the framework that enables CPAs and their clients to work together on evaluating operational reliability of a system.

"Our technology allows us not only to securely retain historical information we capture for the CPA firm and its client, but also allows for trend and comparative profiling of the responses," said Mike Harnish, Chairman of SSC's Technology Advisory Board. "This adds real value to the entire process -- it helps CPAs to do their job better and to deliver more value to their clients, and it leverages the efficiencies of the Internet to leave more time for quality analysis of the system instead of the often cumbersome process of gathering background information."

Based in Denver, Colorado, SysTrust Services Corporation develops tools and technologies to assist CPAs in public practice in the delivery of low cost, high value assurance and consulting services. For more information, please visit www.systrustservices.com.

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) is the ISO 9001 certified national professional organization of CPAs in the United States with more than 340,000 members in public practice, business and industry, government, and education. For more information about the SysTrust assurance service, please visit www.aicpa.org/assurance/systrust/index.htm.