At the AICPA Fall Council Meeting on Tuesday in Las Vegas, the Council approved a substitute resolution offered by the Ohio delegation which supports the new credential -- known as the "Cognitor" -- but requires the Institute to conduct further research and to "prepare a business plan to include financial projections demonstrating the viability of this endeavor; as well as market research results and an analysis of the implications for student enrollment." The new credential will be up for a membership vote at the AICPA Spring Council Meeting.

While the specifics of the plan have yet to be ironed out, the credential represents a broad range of disciplines, including accounting, law, information technology, consulting, marketing, human resources and other business-support areas. The AICPA estimates that by 2010, there would be 800,000 Cognitors in and outside the United States.

Under the plan, the AICPA will emerge -- through a separate organization -- as the entity that licenses qualifying U.S. professionals for the new credential, with both the AICPA and participating state CPA societies providing professionals support, the Institute said.

Robert Elliot, the outgoing chairman of the AICPA's board of directors, said, "We are going through a transformation of our economy" which creates a demand for a knowledge-leveraging credential. In addition, the "Internet provides a platform for a global credential, competency building, knowledge-sharing, quality assurance and infrastructure marketing."

Elliott was replaced by Kathy G. Eddy, who assumed the leadership of the AICPA on Tuesday.

"If we don't do this, someone else will do it," Elliot told the 260 or so Council members. "The timing, I believe, is now or never."

The new credential has sparked mixed feelings among professionals. While some fully support the AICPA's efforts, others believe the credential could threaten the CPA brand and say the plan is fundamentally flawed. There's also been concern over allowing non-CPAs to earn the credential.

Among those deeply concerned about the viability of the plan are the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, the Irish Institute and the Scottish Institute who all recently withdrew from active participation in the Cognitor project.

"Despite the fact they basically agreed with us, the countries that dropped out have expressed some doubts and are not sure the Big Five are dedicated to this program," said Elliot. "The Big Five, by being a global organization, can take this globally successfully."

Elliot said the UK-based Institutes have also expressed a desire to make the credential "more elite" and more difficult to achieve. According to Elliot, steps to becoming a Cognitor include having a higher education, passing a Cognitor exam, having at least five years of professional experience, and receiving the attestation of two Cognitors.

Elliot stressed to the Council that the drop out of three of the eight bodies participating in the project is not "critical" and he suggested that once the project is fine-tuned those bodies may rejoin the effort.

"I don't think it is critical," said Elliot. "And I don't think it is permanent."

Members of the Council in Tuesday's discussion echoed many of the concerns voiced by the UK-based accountancy institutes.

Donald Gursey, president of the California Society of CPAs, said that while he supports the development of the project, he does have concerns about the commitment of International partners and urged the participating bodies "to clarify that which can be known about the path ahead."

Others, such as Max Stinson, chief financial officer of Indiana-based Reilly Industries, fully supports the project.

"We need to provide a brand to include what many of us are doing in practice now," said Stinson. "If we don't do it our value will go down. If we do it we have options. In the long term, we will continue to have a wonderful profession for ourselves and for our kids."

-- By Antoinette Alexander

Send comments to information@smartpros.com

Back to NewsLine