Adventures Abound for Math Students as Ernst & Young Launches Level II of Moneyopolis.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 8, 1999--

Popular Web Site Adds Section for Parents

Ernst & Young LLP has placed a new challenge on the desktops of middle school students across the country: an all-new level of its popular financial planning game, Moneyopolis(SM). With the launch of Level II of Moneyopolis (www.moneyopolis.org) - a public service Web site designed to teach math and financial planning skills - students in grades six through eight face adult-style situations as they "live" in the virtual world of Moneyopolis and learn to handle their finances in this fun environment.

Upon successful completion of Level I, students advance to the adventures that await them in Level II, where the focus of the game shifts from the basics of earning and saving money, to making financial decisions in more complicated situations. For example, as part of the game, a meteor shower suddenly hits the city of Moneyopolis, damaging its infrastructure, requiring emergency repairs and inflating the prices of good and services. Players are taught how to adjust to these changes by responsible use of credit cards and loans.

A "Parent's Section" has also been added to the site. Parents are given ideas for off-line activities to help prepare their children for playing the game and to reinforce the concepts taught on the site. Ernst & Young developed the site as a teaching tool to be used in a classroom environment, complete with lesson plans for teachers. However, with the Internet available to more and more children at home, parents may also wish to participate in teaching this important life skill to their children. Teachers using Moneyopolis in their classrooms can now suggest to their students' parents a simple way to extend school activities into the home life.

"Continuing on the premise of helping kids improve their math skills, Moneyopolis' Level II builds on the financial planning basics that students learned in Level I, and helps them think through important financial decisions for future success in the adult world," said Robert J. Garner, national director of Ernst & Young's Personal Financial Counseling practice. "We believe that with the strong support that Moneyopolis has received from the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Labor, we are truly making strides in enhancing students' education."

The Moneyopolis Web site centers around an interactive financial planning game based on the five-step process Ernst & Young uses to educate adults: assessment, goal setting, strategy setting, implementation, review/adjust. The colorful, easy-to-use game incorporates a "virtual city" in which children move through various centers - financial planning center, job center, education center, banking shopping center, community center and City Hall - managing money and working toward financial goals.

Ernst & Young LLP provides assurance and advisory business services, tax services and consulting for domestic and global clients. The firm has 30,000 people in 87 U.S. cities. Globally, the Ernst & Young organization has 85,000 people in 675 offices in 132 countries. Visit the Ernst & Young web site at http://www.ey.com.