CPA network and consultancy Thriveal announced a new strategic partnership with accounting software provider Xero Tuesday, along with its division into four areas.
Thriveal will retain the membership community as one of these four divisions, according to founder Jason Blumer, with Jennifer Blumer serving as director of the Thriveal Community.
Additionally, Thriveal will be rolling out the Thriveal Academy, the Thriveal Accelerator and the Thriveal Laboratory.
“We’re super impressed with what Thriveal is doing,” Ian Vacin, Xero’s vice president of marketing and product, said on a webcast to members outlining these changes. “Being able to change the profession for the positive really aligns with what we’re trying to do as well.”
The experiment-driven Laboratory begins immediately, with Adrian Simmons serving as director of the division that pledges to “lower barriers to innovation” and collect new ideas through a proprietary method developed by Simmons.
Thriveal’s education division, the Academy, will be led by Joy Lizotte and aims to make CPE “more enjoyable” and less course-centric, according to Blumer. It should be available to members, who will help envision the curriculum, in 2014, and the rest of the profession in 2015.
The Accelerator will serve as an incubator for entrepreneurs, fostering “the creation of creative firms and creative firm owners.” Members, who Blumer envisions being as young as recent master’s degree graduates looking to start their own firms, must apply and be selected to the group.
The new structure also includes updated branding and membership pricing options.
