| Website
of the Month: Citrin Cooperman & Company, LLP
By
Susan B. Anders
JULY 2006 - Citrin
Cooperman & Company, LLP, is a regional public accounting
firm and one of Accounting Today’s Top 100
Firms for 2006, as well as one of Inside Public Accounting’s
2005 All Stars. The firm’s website, www.citrincooperman.com,
is an excellent example of how to market a CPA firm to new
clients, provide a means for clients to contact the firm,
provide an online newsletter, and provide financial calculators.
Besides being an exemplary website, the site provides many
resources for practicing accountants, instructors, and students.
Citrin
Cooperman’s homepage projects the firm’s motto,
“Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed,” and the website
content appears to focus on owners of small to mid-sized
businesses. The homepage is attractive, simple, and uncluttered,
and immediately conveys a professional image, but the graphics
slow the page. The firm’s logo appears at the top
of the homepage and main pages, while the three office addresses
and phone numbers appear on the right side of the homepage.
Navigation
is fairly simple by use of the left-side index on the homepage
and main pages, which displays links for “about us,”
“services,” “industries,” “professionals,”
“careers,” “what our clients say,”
“news/publications,” “useful tools,”
and “contact us.” On the homepage, moving the
cursor over each main heading reveals a drop-down listing
of related topics. Users can either select a drop-down topic
or the main heading itself for a subsidiary index page.
Some resources can be accessed from multiple directions.
Potential
Clients
The
website is designed to make it easy for a potential client
to learn about the firm’s history, services, and personnel
directly from the site. “About us” offers links
to “our history,” “professionals,”
“key staff,” “affiliations,” and
“what’s new.” One of the jewels of this
website, “Professionals,” offers a choice of
presentations sorted by name, office, industry, and title.
“Industry” offers 30 areas, including accounting
and auditing, financial services, and tax services. The
personnel listings include full names and certifications,
e-mail addresses, and office telephone numbers. Clicking
on a person’s name also connects to a photograph,
a brief biography, a downloadable vCard, and links to main
pages for that individual’s specific practice areas.
“Services”
offers eight specific areas, including accounting and auditing,
corporate governance, and international. Selecting a service
gives a description of that service, as well as direct links
to firm personnel who practice in that area. “Industries”
are presented in 15 major areas. Each “industry”
page also offers a direct link to the firm’s professionals.
The connection of specific personnel with each practice
area is another excellent feature of the site.
Potential
Employees
“Careers”
provides a listing of positions that are open. A link to
e-mail a resume is also provided. Potential employees may
want to review the “services” and “industries”
information described above, as well as “key staff,”
under “about us,” which details the administrative
personnel.
General-Information
Seekers
All
users will find helpful information under “about us,”
“news/publications,” and “useful tools.”
“About us” offers a four-phase disaster response
checklist for CFOs and controllers. “News/publications”
provides the firm’s electronic newsletter, with current
and archived articles. “Useful tools” presents
calculators, stock quotes, and links. There are 24 useful
and well-designed calculators on the Citrin Cooperman website
itself. The selection of calculators stays true to the firm’s
mission, and includes credit card payoff, Social Security
benefits, and a student budget calculator.
Note:
This column periodically reviews websites of some of the larger
public accounting firms, as well as some smaller firms that
have particularly good sites.
Susan
B. Anders, PhD, CPA, is an associate professor of
accounting at St. Bonaventure University, St. Bonaventure,
N.Y. |