The American Society of Women Accountants is updating its image, changing the name of the organization to the Accounting & Financial Women’s Alliance.

The rebrand is in response to the continued underrepresentation of women in the profession and includes the new tagline “Connect. Advance. Lead.”

ASWA, which will officially become the Accounting & Financial Women’s Alliance on Jan. 31, 2013, cites two studies as demonstrating this gap it aims to close.

While women make up half of newly hired accounting graduates at CPA firms and 40 percent of CPAs, only 21 percent of firm partners are women, according to a 2011 study. According to the “2011 Catalyst Census of Women Executive Officers and Top Earners,” the ratio of female executive officers in finance and insurance-industry Fortune 500 companies is 18.4 percent.

ASWA’s name change was voted on in October 2012 and represents the organization’s continuing mission to prepare and advocate for female leadership in the profession.

“By contemporizing and broadening the appeal of the organization through a name change, the Accounting & Financial Women’s Alliance is confident it will attract a new generation of women accounting and finance professionals who are in a position to define a new way of thinking in the companies for which they work,” said ASWA executive director Lee K. Lowery in a statement. “By belonging to the Accounting & Financial Women’s Alliance these women will be equipped with the resources and guidance they need to advance and become leaders within the field.”