Annual Webcast Pass Rip-Off

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#1
Posts:
93
Joined:
17-Dec-2018 11:00am
Location:
AZ
So, I purchased an annual webcast pass from the AICPA on 12/31/2022 for $460. I have renewed my subscription for this several times and there were always lots of tax classes available. In January 2023 I took 6 hours of CPE using this subscription and then got busy with tax season. Since that time, the AICPA website has changed to AICPA-CIMA. I logged back in today to select some more tax classes since I need 26 more hours by 5/31/2023. Under purchases, my renewed subscription was no longer there. I had to call them to get it re-instated. Once re-instated I went to select some tax classes and found two tax class offerings for the whole rest of the year! Evidently, they've reduced their tax class offerings significantly. The product that I thought I had purchased on 12/31/2022 was no longer available. I spoke to a customer service rep, who assured me that nothing had changed and they would not issue a refund to me since I had used 6 hours of CPE!!! Am I living in an alternate universe or what? None of this makes sense. Aren't they supposed to epitomize the ethics of our profession?
 

#2
Posts:
728
Joined:
28-May-2014 12:04pm
Location:
Arkansas
My first boss used Gear Up for CPE my first 3 years. That’s all I knew.

At my next stop he used the AICPA. About the 3rd course I realized it was no mistake, the material and delivery was garbage. 23 years later I’ve never purchased anything else from the AICPA.
 

#3
Posts:
3694
Joined:
21-Apr-2014 11:24am
Location:
North Carolina
NAEA appears to have done something similar. This year, for the first time, they offered an annual pass that includes various online offerings, but not the multi-course certificates that they have started to offer in the last year or two. Until the start of this year, we got a journal six times a year, with either 2 or 4 CE hours in each issue. March was the last bi-monthly issue. We are now moving to a quarterly journal. No word yet on how many CE hours in each one, but I will be surprised if the amount in each issue increases. So, because the EA Journal was the source of much of the CE hours that qualify for the annual pass, the value of the pass will, I expect, decline significantly. That is bad business.

In any case, I like to rotate my CE providers. I do still go to NCPE for my annual update but I don't get too cosy with just one provider for the rest of it.
 

#4
Posts:
93
Joined:
17-Dec-2018 11:00am
Location:
AZ
I'm going back to Thomson Reuters. I just don't feel very supported in my profession by the AICPA with this type of price gouging. I can join the state society and then drop my AICPA membership as well. Bu bye AICPA!!
 

#5
JAD  
Posts:
4025
Joined:
21-Apr-2014 8:58am
Location:
California
I left them when they made JOA and TA online only. They called it an upgrade, or something like that.
 

#6
Posts:
359
Joined:
12-Feb-2015 8:50am
Location:
Northern New England
In case you are considering alternatives, Surgent CPE is very good and they offer packages.
 


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