CASE STUDIES

The Michigan Association of CPAs Toolbox

One spot for holding all of its members needs and tools for success.

Snapshot

Industry: Nonprofit, Accounting
Location: Troy, Michigan
Year founded: 1901
Members: Over 17,500 Members

Benefits

Before the latest site update, we only had 30% of our member CPAs using our site and tracker. Now, over 95% of our members are making use of it.
Brochure website to association membership powerhouse.

Profile

The Michigan Association of CPAs has more than 17,500 members who work in business, education, government, and public accounting. Established in 1901, MICPA members serve as trusted advisors for companies and individuals while embracing the highest professional and ethical performance standards.

Challenge

MICPA was experiencing rapid growth and had slow technology. They wanted to overhaul its website and switch to an Association Management System using a CMS. In addition, they were searching for a way for their members to reduce the friction of reporting continuing education credits to the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs Michigan (LARA).

Solution

In 2003 The MICPA reached out to LUX because they knew and trusted the capabilities of two of the founding members, Steve Taylor and Kris Purcell.

LUX interactive designed and developed the MICPA website with a robust member area, continuing education credit tracking and reporting, a mobile member application with conference check-in abilities, and a custom education store. As a result, members have a trustworthy place to access all the benefits MICPA offers.

When MICPA discovers new pain points, LUX quickly updates the site for its users or updates tools used within the Marketplace to ensure continued trust with its members. The consistent maintenance has transformed MICPAs web presence from a membership brochure website into an association membership powerhouse.

“They [LUX interactive] meet every deadline. We usually set a budget before each project, and the team has done an excellent job of sticking to them. The only times the budget has moved is because our members sometimes cause some scope creep, but the LUX interactive team has been great about that. There's never been an instance where we got billed for something we don't know about.”

CIO, Michigan Association of CPAs

Aside from the site, the team has also helped us hold online events by creating check-in kiosks for our members. LUX interactive has also built a custom app for us. It's called a CPE Tracker, and it allows users to upload their information, which is then sent directly to the State of Michigan.” — CIO, Michigan Association of CPAs

MICPA website

LUX interactive designed and developed the MICPA website. They continue to maintain and update annually as new features are needed. "They researched to understand the needs of MIPCA. Then, they introduced a suitable CMS and built the site from scratch. The team also provided some marketing work...They have a perfect track record for fulfilling our needs." — CIO, Michigan Association of CPAs

Member info

LARA Continuing Education Credit Tracking- helped to facilitate and improve member interactions. In addition, MICPA.org is now the portal for the State, allowing the State to track the members' status and easily view submitted data.

CPE Tracker App

LUX created the “Tracker” app to help members review, track, and report CPE. The app also allows for quick conference check-in.

Online classes and registration

The MICPA had a CPE marketplace but needed more control over the courses and tracking for state requirements. So they turned to LUX to create a new store. A custom store would host features closely aligned with their business rules, yielding increased profits, customer service, and satisfaction.

COVID

MICPA relied on third-party education delivery systems for conference material and online CE courses. However, once the pandemic took hold, all live events went online, quickly eating away the profit MICPA gained from the once-in-person events. LUX jumped in and created a simulcast platform to replace an expensive third-party platform. This new platform yielded cost savings for MICPA and its members.

Key Technology Used

Aptify - an association management software

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