Approva Wins Second Consecutive Stevie(R) Award

HERNDON, VA--(Marketwire - Jun 23, 2011) - Approva® Corporation, the leader in continuous controls monitoring (CCM) and audit automation software, won a Stevie Award for Business-to-Business Communications or PR Campaign of the Year in the 2011 American Business Awards for the company's "Control Freak" campaign.

This is the second year in a row that Approva has received a Stevie in recognition of its innovative approach to marketing and public relations. In 2010, Approva won the Stevie Award for Marketing Campaign of the Year for a Product for its "I Love a Good Audit" campaign.

"It's a tremendous honor to be recognized again by the ABA for our marketing efforts," said Michael Evans, vice president of marketing for Approva. "We work hard to bring life and humor to a market segment than can be somewhat dry at times, and it's gratifying to see the results of that work, both in professional recognitions like these and in the response we get from our customers and prospects. We're grateful to the ABA for continuing to support innovation in marketing -- and for a company that lets us have a lot of fun in how we communicate the value Approva provides."

Approva helps finance, internal audit and IT security teams monitor financial systems to prevent fraud and compliance issues. Seeking to celebrate the work of Type-A people everywhere -- and to rehabilitate unfair popular portrayals of control freaks as sniveling, pocket-protected pencil pushers -- Approva launched its "Control Freak" campaign in September 2010 to support the release of its new continuous control monitoring (CCM) software suite, Approva One. Under the slogan "You can call us Control Freaks. We call it good business!" the light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek campaign was designed to underscore the importance of control freaks to businesses everywhere -- and to differentiate Approva as a fun, innovative company taking a fresh approach to the admittedly serious topic of financial governance.

The multi-channel campaign included significant investments in original and interactive content, created to highlight the value that control freaks bring to organizations -- while educating Approva's audience on how they can use Approva to become even better control freaks.

Core campaign elements include:

• ILoveControlFreaks.com: A virally appealing microsite designed to quickly and concisely expose visitors to all original campaign content no matter how they found Approva.
• The Official Control Freak eHandbook: Written to inform and entertain prospects, this handy step-by-step guide explains how continuous controls monitoring technology -- and the people who use it -- are driving positive change in all sorts of situations.
• Onetropolis: A virtual, 3-D city that uses cutting-edge web technology to create a virtual office where visitors see first-hand how a business operates when control freaks run the show.
• "Should've Had a Control Freak" Video Series: A series of two-minute "ripped from the headlines" videos that chronicle real-life situations crying out for a little help from a control freak (or two) and explain how Approva's software could have prevented mishaps.
• "Out of Control" Survey Series: This survey trifecta polled senior finance, IT and audit execs in order to take the pulse of both what's under control and what's out of control in corporate America.
• "I Love Control Freak" buttons: A "special edition" set of collector pins with slogans ranging from "I (heart) Control Freaks" to "Certified Control Freak" and "Proud to Be a Control Freak" that lets prospects declare their true control freak feelings.
• Control Freak Blog: Approva renamed its corporate blog Control Freak and reoriented its content to appeal to the hearts and minds of control freaks everywhere -- offering timely, thoughtful commentary on industry trends, news and Q&As with prominent control freaks delivered in an irreverent voice.

In winning the Stevie, Approva beat out other finalists including Accenture, CoreLogic and Salesforce.com.

Stevie Awards were presented in over 40 categories including Best Overall Company of the Year, Executive of the Year, and Best New Product of the Year. More than 2,800 entries from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were submitted for consideration. The awards were presented Monday during ceremonies at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. More than 200 executives across the country participated in the judging process to determine the Finalists and Stevie Award Winners.

Details about The American Business Awards and the lists of honorees in all categories are available at www.stevieawards.com/aba.

About Approva Corporation
Approva® Corporation is the industry-leading provider of continuous controls monitoring software and is the industry standard at Big-4 audit firms. We enable business, finance, IT and audit professionals to identify, manage and prevent business exceptions in order to reduce risk, increase operational efficiency and prevent inappropriate payments. Global companies such as Bayer, DirecTV, Discovery Communications, Honeywell, Pratt & Whitney and T-Mobile rely on Approva to deliver actionable and auditable intelligence of control breakdowns across their business systems, processes and transactions. Approva has certified integrations with Microsoft, IBM and SAP to provide a holistic Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) solution.

For more information, visit Twitter, or subscribe to our blog, Control Freak.

About The Stevie Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in four programs: The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Honoring companies of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about The Stevie Awards at www.stevieawards.com.