AMERICAN EXPRESS TAX AND BUSINESS SERVICES PLANS TO OFFER CREDIT SERVICES

American Express Tax and Business Services (AETBS) recently announced that a prominent CPA firm located in Rockville, Maryland had joined its organization, allowing the firm to "offer new and expanded services to their existing and prospective clients." The firm will comprise the Metro Area office of AETBS and will be one of three area offices along with Phoenix and Los Angeles to offer a wide range of credit services. The credit services to be offered, according to AETBS are lines of credit, equipment loans and leases, commercial real estate mortgages, SBA loans, subordinated debt financing, and asset-based lending.

The marketing and business strategy of AETBS, as it relates to accounting practices acquired and the CPAs they employ, continues to unfold. The concept of one-stop shopping becomes more and more evident. AETBS will do the bookkeeping, prepare the financial statements and tax returns, advise on investments and insurance products, prepare and administer an estate plan, and extend credit to make it all happen.

The irony is that AETBS seems very anxious to let the world know it has CPAs to help its clients--its recent television ads talk about referring customers to "one of our CPAs"--whereas some of the large accounting and consulting firms seem to never mention the CPA credential in their promotional material because it might limit the way their firms are viewed by prospective clients. *