A Novel Approach Worth Commending
Re: AICPA's Plan for Cognitor Designation Forges Ahead
From: Joseph T. Wells, chairman and founder, Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, cfenet.comjwells@cfenet.com

I think the AICPA's approach is novel, if nothing else. In Texas, accounting graduates have dropped 50 percent in eight years. At that rate, there will not be any accounting grads at the end of this decade. The accounting profession is in a big hurt, and if they do nothing, they'll become obsolete. And periodic financial statement audits have lost their inherent usefulness.

Several years ago, I went through a big, bloody trademark lawsuit on the CFE initials. We won; initial Designations, as they are called, cannot be trademarked. By picking a new name "Cognitor" can indeed be trademarked. That part will save them a lot of grief.

But then they have to introduce a completely new word to the English language. That could be very, very expensive. Remember when the profession's approach to fraud was to "reduce the expectation gap?" That would have been easy in comparison to what they are now facing.

Still, I commend them for trying to do something. That's my philosophy: unless it's dangerous or illegal, I would rather do something wrong than nothing at all.

-- Dec. 11, 2000

Read more Letters to the Editor regarding the Cognitor designation.