You will recall a few years back, the AICPA started offering the licensed AICPA members in good standing the opportunity to purchase their very own CPA.com email address — presumably because using firstname.lastname@firmname.com is too confusing and not CPA enough for some CPAs.
Well the AICPA is now going all in on this CPA.com thing, ditching CPA2Biz to make the most of CPA.com. I mean, one just doesn't sit on a domain like that without capitalizing on a branding opportunity, right?
The first line of the press release made me laugh:
CPA2Biz, a subsidiary of the American Institute of CPAs, announced it has changed its company name to CPA.com to more closely align with its mission of “empowering CPAs and businesses for the digital age.”
Were those quotes necessary? You guys wrote it! You don't have to air quote your claimed mission.
“CPA.com has been serving as a strong umbrella brand for us for the past 18 months,” said Erik Asgeirsson, president and CEO of CPA.com. “It’s a high-quality asset, so elevating it to our company name was always a consideration and more a matter of ‘when’ not ‘if.’ The new name is strong, simple and clear and reflects a digital service offering that is growing to meet the needs of CPAs. The time is right to make this switch.”
OK?
CPA2Biz has been around for 10 years now, so it was about time to ditch that silly name and shove everything under the CPA.com "umbrella brand."
“For more than a decade, CPA2Biz has stayed true to its mission and become a valuable resource for AICPA and its members through services to firms,” said Barry C. Melancon, CPA, CGMA, the AICPA’s president and CEO. “What better way to serve the market through those firms than to leverage CPA.com. It is a win for the profession as we constantly strive to enhance the CPA brand and for CPA.com as a company as it focuses on providing unique services to the AICPA membership.”
Really, all this does is hammer home the point that your precious credential belongs to the AICPA and if they want to open a CPA.com gift shop to sell CPA snowglobes and keychains, they can.
