December 2000

Commentary: The AICPA Portal

There are two basic problems with the concept of the American Institute of CPAs’ (AICPA’s) portal, which is located at www.cpa2biz.com.

First, the purpose of a nonprofit organization is not to generate revenue through the pursuit of a for-profit venture, especially one that competes with its own membership. Second, the time frame and scale on which the AICPA proposes to launch this portal have passed.

If the AICPA wants to educate its membership, the CPA and accounting community, businesses, and consumers on e-commerce, it can easily continue to do so through its existing website.

The Institute does not need to spend millions of dollars creating white papers, audit programs, security guidelines, equipment profiles, privacy guidelines, and links to major vendors. Should the AICPA have a revenue motive, it can and should enhance or create additional affiliate member programs with the leading vendors and providers of e-commerce services.

Most major vendors already have programs specifically targeted to the accounting community. The AICPA could consolidate these offers, perhaps even brand them with an AICPA seal of approval on the Institute’s current website, located at www.aicpa.org.

There is no reason why the AICPA cannot pursue a revenue sharing or affiliate marketing program with a major software vendor, such as Peachtree, in exactly the same manner as it does with Hertz Rent-a-Car.

If the management of the AICPA wants to create a for-profit venture to serve the accounting community, perhaps the management should consider resigning, obtaining private funding, and launching this new entity by themselves.

Of course, this still leaves the AICPA to do what it and most state societies have done—create affiliate marketing programs for the benefit of the membership. In that manner, the AICPA and the state societies get all of the benefits without any of the up-front costs.

Five years ago, before all of the major accounting trade publications went online, there might have been a need to create a central portal for “everything accounting.” Today, sites such as www.aicpa.org, www.nysscpa.org, www.electronicaccountant.com, and ww.accountingworld.com—as well as numerous government-run sites—provide a wealth of information and jumping-off points to regulations, audit programs, discussion groups, ask-the-expert panels, and, naturally, vendors of traditional accounting support as well as e-commerce services.

The membership can best be served by the AICPA staying true to its core mission as the voice of the accounting profession.