function validateForm() {

	var email 	= document.account.x_email.value;
	var pwd		= document.account.pwd.value;
	var bizName	= document.account.businessName.value;
	var bizType = document.account.businessType.value;

	var params = "email=" + encodeParam(email) + "&pwd=" + encodeParam(pwd);
	var requestPage = "ajax/account.jsp";

	sendRequest(requestPage, params);	// send off AJAX request

	var statusNode = requester.responseXML.getElementsByTagName("status")[0];
	var status = statusNode.childNodes[0].nodeValue;

	if (status == "fail") {

		var msg = "";

		var messageNode = requester.responseXML.getElementsByTagName("message")[0];
		var errorNodes = messageNode.getElementsByTagName("error");

		if (errorNodes != null) {

			for (var i=0; i<errorNodes.length; i++) {
				var error = errorNodes[i].firstChild.nodeValue;
				msg += error + "\n";
			}
		}

		alert(msg);

		return (false);

	} else {

		var messageNode = requester.responseXML.getElementsByTagName("message")[0];
		var pwdNodes = messageNode.getElementsByTagName("pwd");

		document.account.x_company.value = bizName;
		document.account.pwd.value = pwdNodes[0].firstChild.nodeValue;
		document.account.email.value = email;

		return (true);
	}


}