January 2001

British Isles to Develop CA as Global Business Credential

After leaving the task force developing a global business credential (also known as Cognitor or XYZ) the English, Scottish, and Irish Chartered Accounting Institutes have decided to compete with their former partners by developing their own global business credential: the Chartered Accountant.

The three institutes located in the British Isles confirm that they are working to promote the Chartered Accountant designation as the de facto international business credential. The Scottish institute going as far as to declare in September that it would continue to build on the CA qualification rather than promote a new international business qualification.

“The Scots CA qualification is already an international passport to business success,” said Grenville Johnston, the president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland. “It offers a unique combination of business advisory skills.”

In September the three CA institut1es of the British Isles announced their withdrawal from the task force set up earlier that in the year to develop an international business credential. The Irish, Scottish and English Institutes of Chartered Accountants opted out of the task force developing the designation tentatively named “Cognitor,” citing a lack of support for the credential in the British Isles and doubts that the new credential would add value to the existing CA designation.

“We do not believe that the current Cognitor proposals represent the best way forward to continue to develop the international reputation and profile of our members, some 10 percent of whom already practice internationally,” said the president of the English Institute, Graham Ward, in October.

The defection of the British Isles, however, did not derail the international coalition. The American Institute of CPAs is working with the remaining task force members, including the accounting institutes of Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia, to make the new global business credential a reality.

Meanwhile, the British institutes are attempting to make the chartered accountant the first globally recognized business credential.”It is better to invest in our existing qualification, the chartered accountant, than to invest in another brand,” said Johnston.

To further their goals, the Scottish institute is working with the English and Irish to prepare a paper promoting the CA designation, according to Johnston, who expects the paper to be completed and discussion begun with colleagues sometime this year.

Yet, the president of the CA institute of Scotland feels that the AICPA’s focus is misdirected. Instead of working to promote a new credential, the AICPA should work to bolster the CPA brand.

Further, the Scottish institute’s president does not expect the Cognitor task force to be successful in developing the new global designation. Johnston says that the CA is more likely to achieve global status than would a new, unknown credential. “I don’t believe a new brand like XYZ will be able to make it as a global brand if the CA cannot,” said Johnston.

Meanwhile, the AIPCA is condu1cting further research and preparing a business plan with financial projections, after a resolution to continue developing the multinational designation was approved at its Council meeting in October. The AICPA is expected to request to authorize a ballot to its membership regarding the designation at its spring 2001 meeting.

The New York State Society of CPAs is soliciting feedback from its membership so that it can best represent the intent of the membership when New York members of AICPA Council vote on this issue later this year. A survey was mailed to the membership in early January.