When looking to attract businesses to Northern Arizona, economic development experts should consider a new secret weapon: grandchildren. It was grandchildren that attracted Edward (Ted) Foley to Sedona.
“When I retired from a career in business in the Cleveland area, I had married kids living in Sedona. I came to retire – but shortly after, I got involved with a fellow who was creating a CPA exam review course. He was looking to raise capital,” said the former vice president of planning and control for TRW Systems’ Guided Missile Research Division. During the Cold War, Foley was on the team that supervised development of the first intercontinental ballistic missile. Foley, along with others, decided to invest, and CPAexcel, an exam review product, was first offered to CPA candidates in 1998.
In 2002, Foley and other original investors bought the assets from the founder. “I became the CEO of the new entity. We had the benefit of starting with a product that had already been developed… I am no longer retired,” he laughed. Today, Efficient Learning Systems, Inc. (ELS) is a national company based in Sedona and has grown to a staff of 25.
“We prepare accountants to pass the Uniform Certified Public Accountant exam so they can become Certified Public Accountants,” explained Foley. According to the Sedona businessman, ELS is the most rapidly growing company in the education sector. One of the factors that distinguishes Efficient Learning Systems from its competitors is the team of 10 accounting professors and CPA Exam Review instructors from top accounting schools across the country.
“We have a team of professors who are outstanding. They write the content and we record them on video giving the lectures,” said Foley. Lectures are videotaped in the studio at ELS headquarters. The studio was part of the build-out when ELS moved into new space at La Tierra Plaza in Sedona.
“Professors who are in Chicago in the dead of the winter are happy to come to Sedona [to record their presentations]. And it’s not a bad place to come to in the spring, summer or fall,” said Foley who clearly appreciates his working environment.
According to Foley, leading technology is another of ELS’s advantages over the competition. “We inherited that from the original creator who was a college computer sciences professor. We created software from scratch with elements that are very tightly integrated. Typically, our students learn about 25 percent more per study hour.”
The technology allows for 650 bite-sized lessons. “The average duration of our video lectures is seven minutes, compared to the one-hour programs of our competitors. What that means is that each bite-sized lesson focuses on a single topic. Then candidates are tested with past exam questions. Our clients conquer one piece at a time. Learning it and testing it, and learning and testing,” Foley said.
“The single most popular part of our courses is that you can knock off a lesson on your lunch hour. If it’s an hour program, God help you, you’re not going to do that on a lunch hour,” said Foley. “To be a CPA, you have to know an enormous amount of data.”
The courses are continually updated to reflect changes in the CPA exam and tax laws. The CPA exam is scored and administered by American Institute of CPAs (AICPA). “The AICPA completely overhauled the exam released on Jan. 2, 2011. So, 2010 was a year in which we had to completely redo our course. There was a real crunch on for a few months, with professors coming to Sedona to get videotaped,” Foley said. Trailhead Video LLC of Sedona helped augment the work of ELS’s in-house video staff.
“At the end of this year, the government might decide to totally revamp our tax system. If that happens, we will be totally revamping the tax portion of our review course,” said Foley.
On Sept. 1, the innovative company released a suite of mobile course apps. The course can now be accessed via iPad, iPhone and Android. “We’ve been growing rapidly and we continue to grow rapidly. We deliver a lot more value for the same price. For example, these new mobile products will be offered to current clients for free. And for new customers, the prices are very reasonable,” said Foley.
“Our investors are happy; our employees are happy,” said a proud Foley. And it looks as if the “secret weapon” is keeping the company in Sedona. “I spend a lot of time with my family here, and I’m now a great-grandfather,” he said.
Which is great news, because ELS provides CPA Exam candidates, colleges and universities, CPA firms and other entities with a choice of high quality CPA review courses at competitive prices. FBN
American Institute of CPAs
www.aicpa.org
Efficient Learning Systems, Inc.
1120 W. SR 89A, Suite D9, Sedona
888-884-5669
www.cpaexcel.com
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