US accountants live the virtual dream
US CPA accountants have logged onto second life to continue their education.
US Certified Public Accountants have taken the virtual world Second Life to
new levels by holding the Maryland Business and Accounting Expo in it.
The two hour workshop allowed the CPA to carry out a continued professional
education programme with the second hour featuring a speaker linked up from his
office in San Francisco
Byron Patrick, an IT director at Katz, Abosch, Weindesheim Gershman &
Freedman, which was the first CPA firm to join Second Life, said: ‘We realised
there is a real economy growing in there and every good economy needs CPAs, so
we figured we needed to be there, too.’
People attending the event participated with microphones to chat with the
presenters, or via chat applications which allowed them to ask questions and
offer comments.
John Zsanowski, chief financial officer of Linden Lab, the company that
created Second Life said: ‘In the future as the technology continues to improve,
I expect to see virtual world’s become immersive experiences that are difficult
to differentiate from the real world.’ He added that in the not too distant
future virtual worlds would be as prevalent as emails.
Further reading:
Profile:
John Zdanowski, Second Life finance chief