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November 2006

Magazines.com First to Undergo ACE

Quick Facts About ACE

ABC evaluates agents' normal operating practices, including order processing and financial and operating environments, for the capability to generally execute ABC-compliant programs. ACE attempts to qualitatively answer the question, "Does the agent have the necessary infrastructure in place to produce ABC-compliant programs?"
Completion of ACE does not indicate an agent’s future ABC compliance on individual programs. Agents should still review individual programs with ABC prior to their execution.
ACE participation is voluntary.
Eligibility: Agent must be an ABC associate member.
Publicity: No public ABC document indicating pass/fail or certification is issued to the agent. Agents that successfully complete their compliance evaluation are listed on ABC’s Web site that identifies the agent and indicates the ‘as at’ date of the evaluation.
ABC reserves the right to retract or withdraw its opinion at any time if it believes the agent’s operating environment and/or internal control process have changed to an extent that indicates the potential for the agent to no longer be processing subscription orders in a generally acceptable fashion. If so, the agent will be removed from the Web site listing.
ACE will consider circulation programs executed by the agent as well as orders processed on behalf of sub-agents.
Cost: A flat rate of $15,000 is due in advance for the service.

For an outline of the program, view How ACE is Conducted: Program Summary.

In September, magazines.com of Franklin, Tenn., committed to be the first consumer magazine subscription agent to undergo a new ABC program that evaluates its standard operating practices for the capability to be compliant with ABC’s circulation bylaws and rules.

The new Agent Compliance Evaluation (ACE) program was approved by ABC’s board of directors earlier this year and is ABC’s first qualitative evaluation designed for consumer magazine subscription agents. ABC auditors conduct the evaluation using a control review process and transactional testing procedures to obtain reasonable assurance that agents under review are capable of conforming to the established ABC definitions, rules and policies governing subscription sales and reporting.

“Accountability matters to magazines.com,” said Cliff Mulcahy, vice president, magazines.com. “ABC has the track record and experience in working with magazine subscription sales agents in navigating the largely paid circulation arena as well as controlled titles. We are looking forward to working with ABC and adding value to the programs we provide for over 1,200 magazine publications.”

ACE was developed in response to the demand from today’s consumer magazine publishers and their subscription agents, according to ABC’s Scott Hanson, senior vice president, auditing services.

“The ACE program offers consumer magazine publishers additional assurance that participating agents have gone through a rigorous ABC review and evaluation process,” Hanson said.

He also noted that although ACE is not a certification program, it provides agents with an additional selling benefit to their publisher clients. Agents that successfully complete ACE are included on an ABC-hosted Web site listing, which will identify the agent and indicate the ‘as at’ date of the evaluation. The evaluation starts at $15,000 and is available to ABC members.

Contact Information
Current members should contact manager, marketing and sales, at (847) 879-8406.

Agents that would like to become an ABC member should contact at (847) 879-8240.

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