The American Institute of CPAs has been selected to oversee the newly minted Internet domain, .cpa, by the Internet’s global governing body, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The new domain will be available to certified professional accountants globally.
Part of ICANN’s mission is to expand the top-level domain structure to aid navigation on the Internet. The effort can support trusted entities and communities, such as CPAs.
The new domain extension will be available to CPAs and their firms the same way any other domain extension is. For instance, a firm called Best Accounting could sign up for the domain bestaccounting.cpa, and employees at that firm may have an email address with the .cpa extension, as in Jane.Doe@bestaccounting.cpa.
“By overseeing the .cpa domain in collaboration with other global CPA organizations, the AICPA can help promote CPAs’ visibility and protect their professional standing online,” said Barry Melancon, CPA, CGMA, the president and CEO of the AICPA, in a statement. “We also want the public to have confidence that someone using a .cpa domain address for email or a website is affiliated with the CPA profession.”
“Today, there’s a lack of authentication and growing mistrust of online information,” added Erik Asgeirsson, president and CEO of CPA.com, the AICPA’s tech subsidiary. “This is why many leading companies and communities, such as Amazon, KPMG, and the banking industry are moving to restricted top-level domains. We’re looking forward to bringing this important new capability to the profession.”
More details on registering a domain name will be available later this year. For additional information and the opportunity to sign up for notifications, visit
